High School DxD: Cycling
by Chichigami
Summary: Giichi Asmodeus, also known as Giichi Hyoudou, goes to a military meeting at the Barlishmire Fortress. A known terrorist, Spiegelung, attacks the place. His companion, Inpei, stops him and mentions the mysterious 'Master'. While Giichi chases 'Master' with the help of his right-hand man - Yi Cheng, strange things happen and secrets unfold.
1. Chapter 1: Reminiscent Past

—An unfamiliar scenery. There are many figures, none of which is or are known, or even recognizable, for that matter.

A few of them are males, and the rest are females. It is possible to infer that much. It is also possible to figure out that most of them are either dead or immobilized.

That is, except for three figures. Two of them are males, and the other one is a female figure. Nevertheless, even they are in a horrible state.

One of the males lacks his right leg, and the other has his left eye gouged out. However, they still _pale_ , in comparison to the female figure.

Having both of her eyes pierced through, she does not see the male figure she is holding, but she **does** hug him tightly, as much as she possibly could. Another thing is, she can also barely hear, as her right ear is severely damaged, and her left ear is not even present at all. Not to mention, half of her right leg is missing.

Nonetheless, she is hugging the male figure she holds, tightly, and doesn't want to let it go, it doesn't matter what will happen.

The leg-lacking male figure tries to exert the last bit of his strength that could possibly be left inside of him, and a beam was shot.

…But it only did as much as—no, it didn't even scratch, the enemy that did all of this, who is still not damaged mortally, although that enemy still is somewhat injured, albeit mediocre injuries.

Seeing the other male figure failing, the male figure with his eye gouged out… tried to go out of the female figure's hold. She didn't want that, and tried to hug him even more tightly, but… it was no good, and he still went on ahead, to fight that enemy.

"You dummy!"

The girl shouted.

"You…! Are you trying to make me cry?"

Already crying, the female figure asked as such. The male figure… also cries, a little bit, letting out manly tears.

"Rather than my humble and worthless life, your precious and important life are much more important, —. I'd like to say I will win this fight, so you just wait there patiently, but… this doesn't seem like it will go that way, does it?"

Trying to laugh it off, the man smiles at the woman, despite her incapability to see at that moment.

"Why?"

The woman, saddened, with blood flowing from her eyes, asks the man. Why? Such a question isn't easily answered, and the man tries to avoid said question.

"Why… what?"

"Why are going so far, just for me?"

The man lets out a single manly tear, and says.

"It's because… I love you, —."

After quietly saying that, as if he whispered his love to her, the man then cries out his feelings to the woman.

"I LOVE YOU, —!"

The man cries with his right eye, and blood is flowing from the left one. But he doesn't stop yet. He continues, and tells her everything he wanted to.

"I want to continue living on with you! However, if it's a matter of life or death, if only one of us gets to live: either me or you — without a single moment of hesitation, the answer is you. It has to be you!"

As if he was relieved from that, as though his heart was eased with those words being said, the man walks towards the enemy.

"With an eye gouged or not, whether I have strength left in me or not, be it whatever it may be, come! If it is to protect my love, to protect the one woman I always loved, and always will… then my life isn't too much to pay!"

Equipping with an armor, as he goes towards the enemy, the man goes on and speaks.

"If you can't accept my check, then I will pay it at the moment. I already said, but my life isn't too much to pay! If my very own life isn't too much to pay, then what is?! I do not care what it is, but if it's to protect her…!"

Fully equipped with an armor, the man comes at the enemy, and throws a punch.

"I CAN DO ANYTHING FOR HER!"

Screaming as such, they begin to fight. The man falls, but comes up again. Falls, but he gets up again. Again. And again. Nonstop.

Until the moment that the man uses his last bit of strength left in him. But even then, the man still stands up, the man still fights the enemy.

And then… after a few more moments, when the man really has no strength left inside of him, as the situation really becomes hopeless…

—!

The enemy breathes fire at the direction of the woman, and the man decides to…

"NO! Don't you dare to hit her!"

The man tries to rescue the woman, to take the hit instead, but he's too late. By the time he got to her, she already died from the fire.

Despaired, the man kneels down before the dead body of the woman he loved. The man, saddened, cries while holding the dead body of the woman, near to him, hugging it so tightly, he suddenly breaks it by mistake, without even realizing it.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The man's cries could be heard from afar, as could have been his curses towards the enemy, and the name of the woman he loved.

"You will pay for it, you motherfucker. DID YOU HEAR ME, YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT?! Right now, I am still nothing, but… just wait. Wait, and I will kill you one of these days. But, maybe just killing you might not be enough."

The man gets up, and calls out a name, with an angry tone.

Then, an unknown, unrecognizable male figure, appears, out of nowhere, right in front of the man.

"Wow… this… it's even worse than last time, isn't it?"

The male figure laughs, but the man doesn't. The man just tells him one simple sentence, with an angered and annoyed tone.

"Just do your thing. You know what I called you, don't you?"

The male figure smiles, and then…

Then, the scene changes completely. A male figure stands near to a female figure in a hospital. However, the scene immediately ends.

* * *

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter, the more 'actual' story will start. I will publish new chapters monthly, probably, maybe for the next six months or so, and then I'll see to it, maybe I'll publish new chapters bi-weekly, I don't know for sure yet.

Anyways, I will also upload compilations of certain chapters to Google Docs, in PDF form, and possible add in some extra scenes and/or details, and maybe some other stuff, too, while I'm on it. The first compilation will... probably be of chapters 1-7.

I am sorry that this chapter is so short, but next chapter will be longer! So please look forward to the next chapter! I am also looking forward for some reviews, and hopefully building critics, too. :)


	2. Chapter 2: Reunion & Doubt

**Chapter 2: Reunion & Doubt**

* * *

"Hnn…"

I yawn as I wake up, and see a certain someone, who isn't from this house, that is here, without any permission from me, like always. That certain someone is…

"Huh? Gicchi, you're awake? Good morning."

That certain someone is Sakurako Leviathan.

She is a beautiful girl, with long, enticing purple hair and brilliant purple eyes. Despite her short figure, she has quite the big, or rather, _huge_ breasts.

I know her only for three years or so, but that's much more than enough to know how cheerful she is. Although, she can be quite troubling at times. Well, more like, most of the time, she does nothing but cause me troubles.

Just as her name implies, she is the current Maou Leviathan. As for me, well… I am a fellow Maou, so to say. My name is Giichi Asmodeus, the current Maou Asmodeus.

"Yes, I am _indeed_ awake, Sakucchi. For crying out loud, when will you stop entering my house without any permission?"

"Eh? Permission? From who, you? I don't need anything like that, you dummy. Or, wait, you aren't going to tell me that you didn't want me here this whole time… right?"

Please don't tell me she's forgotten about the numerous times I told her to stop entering my house without my permission… My house, my privacy. I don't mind letting her in, but just coming in without knocking on the door or something like that… Couldn't you try to consider my privacy? Ha… I guess she couldn't.

"For the millionth time, yes, don't barge into my house without knocking on the door and waiting for me to open the door and letting you in. I don't mind letting you in, so you really don't have to barge, you know."

She looks at me with a surprised look. What? Did I say something strange?

"You're telling me… that I _**barge**_ into your house? You're trying to tell me that I did that this all time? Is that what you're trying to tell me?!"

Then, she just bursts out with tears. For crying out loud… she is quite the handful person, and it's quite troubling.

I sigh, and then speak.

"To a certain degree, yes. But to other degree, no."

She stops crying immediately and asks.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that in a certain sense, you are right; I am just trying to tell you to stop barging into my house, that you are a bother."

"…I didn't go and say that much…"

"However! In another sense, that's not what I meant, and you are wrong."

She makes a puzzled expression. I get up from the bed and go to make breakfast, but…

"Did… you… Did you make this, Sakucchi?"

"Ah, yes. I was hungry myself, so I made breakfast. And while I was at it, I made some for you too, Gicchi."

Sakucchi made breakfast for me. It's steamed white rice, a bowl of miso soup, and umeboshi. Oh, she also made tea. Well, at least, that's thoughtful of her.

"Was it… unneeded? Did I… bother you again?"

She looks troubled, and it's quite cute. I blush as I reassure her.

"N-No… you actually saved me some time, to be honest."

I stop for a few moments, and an awkward silence goes on for those seconds, until I finish what I wanted to say.

"S-S-S-S-S-So… th-th-th-tha—thank you, Sakucchi!"

I then proceed to eat breakfast. A few minutes later, as I only ate half of the meal, I then remember that I have a meeting at the Barlishmire Fortress. A military meeting, on top of that! I heard they have a quite important discussion going on there. Something about a group of terrorists going around, destroying stuff, or whatever.

Well, I am Maou Asmodeus, so I'd better go there. This is pretty much my duty, work, as the Maou Asmodeus, so I got to do that properly, right?

"Ah, I just remembered about the meeting!"

Then, Sakucchi seems to have also remembered something.

"I also just remembered about the meeting with Chichigami, who has come to visit the Underworld. I have to properly welcome him/her as Maou Leviathan."

"Well, at least you remembered about it. You know what they say, better late than never, it's good that you at least remembered it. And it's not like you are late… are you?"

Sakucchi then blushes slightly, and looks away, with the look of complete despair in her eyes.

"I AM LATE BY 5 MINUTES!"

Is it that bad?

"Hey, I have only 30 minutes to go to the meeting myself, you know."

Wait… what? No, no, no! No way! It's now 6 am! And the meeting is… at 6:30 am! I fucked up, didn't I?

I despair, too, and my I lower my head.

"Being late by 5 minutes alone isn't such a big deal, and can be settled, even if I am late for welcoming a God, from the other World. However… the place I am supposed to go to is 2 hours away from here. …IN FLIGHT!"

Wow, she's really done for, if that's the case.

"Well, if you have time to explain this to me, then go for that thing already! What good will it do if you just stay here, you know!"

"You're right. As her rival, I can't just stay here confused, and welcome her properly! I will maybe even win against her this time!"

"…"

An awkward silence goes on for a moment, and I then speak.

"…Please don't fight against her. Please, just, don't."

She just pouts.

"Hmpf."

Seriously, please don't fight her.

"However, you need to hurry, and I need to finish eating already and get over there real quick, so you go already while I will… finish eating…"

I start eating really quickly.

Sakucchi leaves.

"Ah, see you, Sakucchi!"

* * *

A few moments later, I gulp the last bit of what was left, and immediately go out.

"Darn it, it's already 6:15! I have only 15 minutes to arrive there!"

I spread my Dragon wings open.

—Ah, I might have forgot to mention, but I am not quite accustomed to my Devil wings, so I prefer using my Dragon wings.

"Going all the way from here to the Barlishmire Fortress in mere 15 minutes… is not going to be easy. Aah! I'm definitely late for this meeting! Fuck!"

* * *

10 minutes later, I am relatively close to my destination, that is to say, I am relatively close to the Barlishmire Fortress.

Sweating and breathing heavily, I walk.

"I barely made it. That was certainly enough tougher than I'd imagine. Seriously, flying so high up can be tough. This mountain is too damn high!"

Then, I walk towards the fortress, as I see it from afar.

Six massive, round towers, form an almost perfectly squared barrier, around this marvelous castle, and are connected by reinforced, massive walls made of bronze stone.

Grand windows are scattered here and there around the walls in fairly symmetrical patterns, along with symmetric holes for archers and artillery. There are also three gates, for soldiers to come out and fight off any bandit or attacker, and one gate for emergency escape, in case of hopelessness or need for a quick way out.

Aside from those, a regular gate with enormous wooden doors, a draw bridge and archer holes guards the only passage into the castle build upon a mountain top and it's the one easiest way in. If you can possibly make it all the way to there, that is.

Carts, boxes, tents and various trade goods are stacked and packed outside the castle, ready to be sold. Soldiers are patrolling the gates with fairly well distributed shifts for each of them. This castle has clearly stood the test of time and its inhabitants are intend on making sure it stays that way for ages to come.

I go towards the gate, and the guards come towards me, but immediately retreat after recognizing me the Maou Asmodeus.

"You're barely on time."

"Yeah, are you trying to insult us?"

"Heh, those Maous these days, they think of nothing but themselves. Here we are calling you to discuss about that terrorist, and yet you come 5 minutes before the meeting, as casually as possible, as if you are just visiting your friend or something, ignoring the people's suffering."

Three of the four guards talk to me, with the third being rather talkative. The fourth, however… stays silent.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, just let me in. You're guards, not my buddies. So you can shut the fuck up, regardless if you want or not. …Or, better phrased: you have the right to remain silent. It seems like the one in the back knows his stuff, though."

The fourth guard lets out a forced laugh.

"Are you kidding me? I'm just being oppressed. I am in debt because the taxes are too damn high. Why do you think I'd work as a guard of this castle, otherwise?"

The three guards then speak.

"The taxes? I am pretty sure they aren't too high as of the moment."

"You dumbass, it must be that Zahav bastard. All the taxes go to him, the Secretary of the Treasury. He must have raised the taxes, that greedy and filthy Reincarnated."

"You two don't understand anything. There's this meeting, and an operation will start very soon, most likely. One of the things they are going to discuss is probably how high they will need to raise the taxes to fund that stupid operation."

I sigh.

"Zahav is the last one who will ask for more money for no reason. It was probably Rei who raised the taxes, especially since you have problems, but the other three seem to have no problems whatsoever with the taxes. Rei likes picking up on the poor people, he is the complete opposite of Zahav. Think before you speak."

The three gasp and have perplexed expression, but the fourth one just looks at me with hatred filling his eyes.

"As if the word of yet another Maou will change my mind. You just want me oppress me, the same as the others."

"Ah, yeah, yeah, whatever. I couldn't care less about a mere guard being oppressed, or even becoming a guard just because he was oppressed. I came for a meeting, and I have only 5 minutes, or at least I had. It's now reduced to a mere one minute."

* * *

They then let me in. Oh, finally. They surely did take their time. As I enter the meeting room, I hear screams from outside. What could it be?

"AA-AHH-AAAAAHHHHHHHH! IT'S HIM! IT'S… IT'S THAT TERRORIST, THAT SPIEGELUNG LUCIFER BASTARD! AAAAHHHHHHHHHH! PLEASE, SAVE ME! HE IS GOING TO KILL ME! SAVE ME, PLEASE!"

I don't recognize this voice as one of those four guards.

"What is that failure of an archer doing?! It should be a high up mountain. If it was a squadron, I'd understand, but it's just a single man!"

One of the big-shots sitting shouts. If it's that Spiegelung Lucifer, I'd say it will be pretty much no problem for him to get past merely climbing a high mountain and getting shot.

Ah, just to be clear, the reason I was tired, was because I flied more than 50 kilometers in mere 10 minutes! Even if I am the Maou Asmodeus, such things would tire anyone, you know. I'm not a plane, for crying out loud.

However, right now, that isn't what I should focus on. If he is here, then it would mean that the one terrorist we were to discuss about his punishment… is right outside this place, this Barlishmire Fortress.

If I can just come out and defeat him, it will be the equivalent of dealing with this mess of a meeting.

Well then, I guess it's about time I will do some proper work as the Maou Asmodeus, right? Enforcing the law is yet another responsibility of mine! Wait, no, that's actually one of the duties of Sirzechs. Eh, whatever.

"GO OUTSIDE, AND CONFRONT THE BASTARD, YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING GUARDS WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO ANYTHING!"

This time, it's another big-shot, who got up from his chair, and hit the table with his fist as he said that. From the looks of it, how he ordered the guards, and how he is angry, even more than the previous one, he is probably the owner of this Barlishmire Fortress, I would guess.

* * *

10 minutes have passed, and the only result is one of guards coming back, all injured, asking for help, only to collapse a few moments later.

I sigh.

"Eh, whatever. I will deal with that Spiegelung Lucifer."

I go out, and what I see is dozens of dead guards, all killed by the same man. That man is somewhat muscular, with an average height. Captivating silver hair, and dazzling golden eyes. Standing atop a pile of 20 or so dead guards, is him—the one who killed all of them—Spiegelung Lucifer.

I walk towards him.

"Fancy meeting you here, Hyoudou."

I let out a small laugh.

"Please, right now, I am here under the name of Asmodeus."

"But you're still a man of Hyoudou, right?"

"How and when can the Head of the Hyoudou Clan not be a man of Hyoudou? Please try to make sense with what you say, Spiegelung."

We both laugh for a while, but then…

…a green Magic circle appears. Ajuka, huh?

Then, two men come out of that Magic circle.

One is Ajuka Beelzebub. Appears like a young man in his thirties, with a bewitchingly beautiful and attractive figure. Entrancing light blue eyes, and green hair that is slicked backwards. Adding to that, his mysterious aura.

The other one is Rei Belphegor. Thin, tall, and an annoyed look on his face. Fierce red eyes and slightly long, smooth black hair. Adding to all of that, his short, white beard, as well as his frightening, yet somehow innocent aura.

Strangely enough, his right leg is completely exposed, and he seemingly doesn't wear a shirt right now. Despite his figure, his body hair does make him much manlier, maybe even more intimidating.

"Ajuka, and Rei, too… Why did you come?"

"A fellow Maou is being attacked. Whether you can with this yourself or not, we should come to your help. Isn't that right, Rei?"

"Hah! As if I care. I just tagged along because I can't deal with you. To be completely honest, I couldn't care less!"

Then, Spiegelung, noticing the three, asks them to not interfere with his fight with me, which he wishes, one-on-one.

"Hmm… I'd have no problem with fighting with you one-one-on, but…"

I'd like to get back home already. I have other stuff to do, you know.

"Don't be in such a hurry, Hyoudou! —Ah, wait, that's not correct. Right now, you're here under the name of Asmodeus, right? Well then, Asmodeus! Don't be such a dull person, and have a fight with me. Surely, you aren't afraid of losing, are you?"

I sigh.

"As if I'd fall for such simple provocations."

Upon hearing my reject-esque response, Spiegelung wears a perplexed expression on his face, dumbfounded.

"Eeeeeeehhhhhhhh…?! Seriously, Hyoudou—I mean, Asmodeus?! Damn! And here I thought I was finally going to have a good fight against you. Hah… I guess I can try anytime else. Well then…"

Spiegelung turns around, and starts to walk away, as if nothing had happened. Ajuka is immediately signing to Rei to jump on him as he counts to three.

"…However!"

Spiegelung turns around again, and Ajuka stops counting for a moment, having count only to two just yet.

I then continue.

"If I am to fight you, not because you provoked me, but rather because you are a terrorist, a criminal, who attacked the Barlishmire Fortress, despite there being a very important meeting ongoing, and I, the Maou Asmodeus, just so happened to witness you doing it, catching you red-handed… in that case…!"

As I finish speaking, Spiegelung seems to sort of understand what I am talking about, and Ajuka continues counting.

"Three."

With that, Rei immediately takes out his bow, and shoots an arrow at Spiegelung, but Spiegelung catches that arrow, swiftly.

"I am pretty sure I asked you two to not interfere my fight with Asmodeus. Ajuka, Rei, you two are not going to be forgiven for that. However, before dealing with you, I want to finally have my fight with Asmodeus."

Spiegelung then looks at them with an intensely menacing look on his eyes, as he speaks again, to finish his sentence.

"So if you may, now, do not interfere."

Ajuka urges Rei to lower his bow.

"Now then, Asmodeus! Let's have our fight! It shall be a truly epic fight, Asmodeus!"

Then, immediately, numerous Magic circles, Magic squares, Magic triangles, Magic rectangles, and so on, appear, some close to me, and some afar.

Some release beams, some shoot fire, some come to freeze me with ice, some try to immobilize me with lightning, and some try to tear through me with sheer wind, while those close to Spiegelung try to protect him.

I take all of those offensive Magic attacks, head on—!

BOOM! GOOOOON! DOOOON! BZZT!

Many sounds were heard, and a smoke screen was created near me. As if I was riding the wind, I rush towards Spiegelung with a God-like speed, and throw a punch on him, although the barriers stop it. I throw a second punch, and it destroys those barriers. And, then—I kick him on the abdomen, throwing him far off!

"Hoho~! This is good! _THIS_ is how a **FIGHT** should be! Come, Asmodeus! I'll accept that might of yours, head on! No, not only that! I will also apply some damage to you, Asmodeus! Now, come on, let's enjoy this fight, to our hearts' content! Right? Shall we, Asmodeus—!"

Summoning multiple Magic circles, he rushes at me. Then, he summons a few Norse Magic squares, while simultaneously summoning unfamiliar kind of Magic triangles and cubes. Then, they all activate at once.

The Magic circles he summoned at the start—intense fire and wind come out of them, as the Norse Magic squares he summons—start firing beams, like arrows. And then, the unfamiliar kind of Magic triangles make a barrier around him, and the unfamiliar kind of magic cubes… seem to do nothing?

Then, he throws a punch at me, and I block it with my right hand. Immediately, I kick him, and he blocks it with his right hand.

"You are quite capable, aren't you, Spiegelung? Have you gotten better than last time we have met, by any chance?"

"I return the exact same words to you, Asmodeus. You are a monster. You accept my Magic attacks like nothing, break through my barriers as if they were a child's play, and even accepting my enhanced fist, completely unscathed?! What kind of monster are you supposed to be, Asmodeus? Well, not that last time I could defeat you, but, how can I say that… you seem to have gotten even better than last time."

We both take distance away from each other, as we try to take a little break.

Then, a few moments later, we both charge at one another.

—!

Blocking each other's fist, we kick each other. Blocking each other's kick, we fist.

We repeat doing that for a minute or so, and then Spiegelung starts summoning weird, unfamiliar kind of Magic… pyramids? Are you fucking kidding me?

"You seem to use a certain weird Magic. What is that? Some ancient, long-forgotten, super-strong Magic that you just picked up, like a lot of other Magic types you learned to use? Huh, Spiegelung?"

"Hmph! As if you need to know anything about _this_ type of Magic, Asmodeus!"

Then, the ground beneath me shakes, and starts crumbling. So that's what that… Magic, umm… pyramid… did? Yeah, Magic pyramid. I am still not used to this at all.

"Earthquake? Doesn't quite seem like it. What was that, Spiegelung?"

"Such concepts are beyond muscle-heads like you, Asmodeus!"

"Calling me a muscle-head is quite rude, Spiegelung. I have learned how to use wits to win a fight, you know."

"But you just usually prefer simplistic, more fun and exciting fights… Am I right?"

"Definitely, I do like just using my fists, more than pretty much anything else. However, there is a beauty to both simplicity and complexity. Well, I am still struggling to find said beauty in complexity, but it doesn't change the fact that it's there!"

We spoke as we exchanged blows, blocking each other's blows. Although, that bastard has kept summoning Magic… shapes, whatever! Anyways, Spiegelung has summoned over 100 Magic triangles by now. Not to mention the rest of the weird Magic shapes he summoned. It is much tougher than I had expected.

Then, Rei aims at Spiegelung.

"Don't do it, Rei. You, too, Ajuka. Don't interfere the fight, you two! This has turned into much more than I thought, but it's not the first time I fought Spiegelung, and it isn't going to be the first time I win!"

As I screamed the last bit of the sentence, I managed to get Spiegelung off-guard, and managed to land a hit on him.

—!

BOOM! CRACK!

I sent him flying for at least 300 meters away. I didn't hold back with that punch, so at least that much is to be expected.

I also heard something cracking, but… it isn't his bones cracking after he landed at something at that absurd speed. …Is it?

I just hope it isn't.

Then, as I go towards Spiegelung, I feel two beams hitting my back, and I also feel as if gravity is pulling me down much more than it should.

"Gravity Manipulation, huh? Some weird Magic, but not unheard of."

I say that as I land intensely, right near Spiegelung, who tries to swing his fist at me. I immediately make a huge hole where I land, that exact moment.

—!

I catch an arrow. It was obviously enough shot by Rei. Actually, not. Was it… actually shot by one of the archers guarding the Barlishmire Fortress? I didn't think, or even suspect, that there's someone of that caliber there.

Then, Spiegelung tries to kick at me, but I instead step on his leg, with my own leg.

"I guess it's my win, is it not, Spiegelung?"

I immediately notice a Magic… circle-esque… thing? I am not too sure what that might be, but I get a feeling, a really strong feeling, that it's dangerous to stay here. I spread my Dragon wings, and fly up high.

Then—!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

A great yellow wave goes at the direction of where I, or rather, my abdomen was. Then, it completely destroys half of the castle, which was at the same direction.

"That's quite crazy, Spiegelung."

Spiegelung then makes a crazy, slightly psychopathic smile, as he looks at me. Then, I spot a few more of those Magic circle-esque things. Oh, no, this one thing might be a little bit too much for me to handle.

However—!

—!

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Several beams, some yellow, some green, some blue, and some black, each at a slightly different direction, are shot. Two… no, three, or maybe even four, of those beams, hit me. One or two hit my Dragon wings, and the other two or three hit my chest, my neck, and my forehead.

"I certainly felt that, Spiegelung."

My right wing, which sustained most of the damage from the first one or two beams, it got half destroyed. The right one is slightly scratched, but no big deal. My chest, neck, and my forehead, fortunately enough didn't get too much damage. My forehead was defended by my right wing. My neck was defended by my two hands, which got a little burn, nothing more. My chest, though… was defenseless. I have a small hole there.

I might have been lucky with that.

"Those things… they weren't Magic _circles_ , were they?"

"You have quite the good eyes, to notice the difference. Indeed, it wasn't a Magic _circle_ , but rather a Magic _myriagon_. Most people would assume this is a Magic circle, and not ever notice it's not."

"Magic… _myriagon_? What's that?"

"Basically, a myriagon is a polygon with ten thousand sides. Well, like I already said, most people would not notice the difference between a myriagon and a circle. It still is surprising me that you actually could tell the difference. You most definitely _are_ much better than the last time we met."

Much better than the last time we met, huh? I guess so.

Then, Spiegelung gets up, and speaks.

"I hope you aren't going to call this fight your win already, are you, Asmodeus? Wait a moment, you actually already called your win just a few moments ago… Ah, no, that was just an early celebration! Yes! You merely were overconfident, and declared your win all by yourself. I did not accept that win!"

I let out a small laugh, and Spiegelung makes a slightly embarrassed expression.

"I wouldn't call this fight a win, with only this. Most definitely, I _was_ indeed just getting overconfident, Spiegelung."

We stare at each other for a couple of moment, and then…

"—Are we to resume this fight, Spiegelung?"

Spiegelung smiles and laughs.

"Of course! You bet we are continuing this fight, Asmodeus!"

Spiegelung comes at me while he summons Magic squares and Magic circles. He rushes towards me, and kicks me in the abdomen.

"That was a nice clean hit, Spiegelung."

"Not yet, Asmodeus. You forgot my Magic attacks!"

Indeed, I forgot about that.

Then, fire, water, ice, wind, earth, all attack me at once, intensely. Oh, and also beams.

BOOM!

A great explosion was heard, and I immediately run towards Spiegelung, in a God-like speed, and throw a few fists on him, with him barely managing to block a couple or so with his fists, and a couple more with barriers. However, the last couple of fists landed a hit. However, I didn't finish it there, and landed a kick on his face.

—!

He barely manages to take the damage from these hits. However, not only does he wear an armor, but he is also tough. He can take this much head-on.

"Ouch. That definitely hurt, Asmodeus. I am going all-out, but you pretty much look down on me, don't you?"

"Surely you jest, Spiegelung. I am having quite the hard—"

Before I finish speaking, an arrow is shot towards Spiegelung. This time, it is, indeed, Rei, I know. With the direction taken into account, I cannot stop that arrow. Spiegelung isn't focused, so he most likely didn't notice that.

I don't want our fight to be ruined just because of a mere arrow from that douchebag! I will catch that arrow. No, I will destroy it with my fist!

…But then—.

—!

—Then, another arrow goes in that direction, hits the arrow exactly, and completely shatters it. The one who shot this arrow is an expert. No, he's beyond the level of a mere 'expert', way beyond that.

Hmm… Chiron, huh?

"Sticking your nose into things that don't matter to you, again. Huh, Chiron? Well, this actually helped me this time, so thank you."

I said that as I looked far away. Over there, was Chiron. He was a rather calm looking man, gentle — like the sea. He had a tall and muscular body. He'd wear a somewhat archaic style of a dress, and a leather armor. He would have fascinating brown hair, and captivating yellow eyes. Wiggling his horse tail, he stood there with his four legs: two of a human, which were on the front, and two of a horse, which were on the rear.

Chiron winks at me, and I wink at him back as a smile at him.

—Thank you, Chiron. Thank you… for protecting the honor of this fight.

I walk towards Spiegelung for a few moments, before making a huge jump.

"ARE YOU READY YET… SPIEGELUNG!"

Amidst the jump, I open my Dragon wings, and navigate towards Spiegelung. A couple of moments later, I ram my head onto Spiegelung's chest.

CLANG!

"I am wearing an armor, and I'm the one hurt? Seriously, Giichi, what kind of a monster are you supposed to be?"

"How about…"

I throw a fist at Spiegelung.

"…one that…"

But he dodges. I kick him in the solar plexus.

"…knows how to…"

BOOM!

I land a hit, and send him off, for at least a hundred meters or so.

"…kick your ass? Huh, Spiegelung?"

Spiegelung spits blood out of his mouth. He lets out a moan, and a little scream, in his agony. He puts the two of his hands on his stomach.

Seems like he reached his limit, huh? Well, I suppose this much is to be expected. It's not like I've got any complaints, anyway, to be completely honest. He fought well, and he got defeated. That's all there is to it.

I walk towards him, and catch yet another arrow that Rei shot. I don't think Ajuka is as stupid enough as to order Rei to shoot so many times. The first time was Ajuka's mistake, miscalculation, however, the rest of the times were merely Rei's fault.

Spiegelung presses his stomach painfully, and answers my question, while he breathes heavily.

"One that… knows… how to kick… my ass… is it?"

He coughs, and even more blood comes out.

"Certainly enough, you kicked my ass. I didn't expect my loss to be _this bad_. I guess I will just have to retreat."

Then, I spot a man beside Spiegelung. Average height, and quite muscular, the man has white hair, with slices of brown, and lifeless brown eyes. He has a little dog with him.

"—Am I right… Inpei?"

—Inpei. That must be that man's name.

It seems like he averts his look, from me to Spiegelung. He then answers Spiegelung, with a voice void of any emotions.

"More likely than not."

A couple of seconds worth of silence passes, and we all just start at each other, with the man named Inpei still wearing no emotion on both his face and eyes.

"Now then, Spiegelung. Let's head back. Master is quite unpleased."

"If he interrupts my fight with Asmodeus, then I cannot listen to that master!"

Spiegelung gets up after screaming. Breathing heavily, he looks at me, and smiles, as if he was to urge me to continue this fight.

"Are you sure you can fight in this state, Spiegelung?"

"Don't look down on me that much, Asmodeus. Even if you are that much superior, it really insults me when you look down on me like that. Whether I am a challenge to you or not, I will not give in easily, Asmodeus. I will show you I can hurt you, I will show you… that I can win, for once!"

After speaking that, or more accurately, screaming that, Spiegelung spreads his Devil wings. He has 8 of them. He flies up to the sky, and summons plethora of Magic circles, magic squares, and so on. A lot of Magic types, and a lot of shapes. To be honest, I can barely—no, I cannot keep up at all, with that many. Even I can't.

BOOM! CLANG! SPLASH! BZZT! BOOM! CLANG! SPLASH! BZZT! GOOOOOOOOOOOON! DOOOOOOOOOOOON! GOOOOOOOOOOON! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Lots of attacks hit me: Earth Magic, Water Magic, Lightning Magic, Magic beams, and so on. Even I don't get completely unscathed out of this. To be more precise, I actually even got injured quite badly, and am bleeding from various places. My right hand, my left cheek, my left leg and my right foot, and a few other places.

Then, while I am focused on Spiegelung, a blade—no, a few, more than a dozen of blades, appear from the shadow.

"—Inpei… was your name…? Those blades… could you possibly be the current user of the Sacred Gear—the Longinus—Canis Lykaon?"

"Indee—"

Before the man named Inpei manages to finish what he says, Spiegelung throws a punch at him. Fortunately, he managed to somehow dodge it.

"Inpei! What in Hell makes you think you can interfere this fight?!"

Inpei murmurs something to Spiegelung, and as he finishes that, Spiegelung speaks.

"Tsk. Tell him I ain't his personal maid, and I'm not going to wipe his ass off. Obviously, he can do stuff on his own, too!"

Spiegelung then jumps off, and rushes towards me in an amazing speed! He shoots not one, not two, not three, and not four, but dozens of beams, while making a barrier strong enough to hold off ten of my hits or so.

I take in a deep breath.

He is about to hit me. I have to settle this quickly. No, actually, I can still fight. Totally fine, I am totally fine.

I inhale… and exhale…

I look at Spiegelung, who is right near me, having just landed near me. The Magic has already did its own job, it attacked me, and I felt it.

Inhale…

—He comes at me with a kick, and I block it.

Exhale…

—He catches one of the blades made by Inpei, and stabs me with it. However, I block it, so nothing is wrong.

Inhale…

—He catches one of the arrows that Rei shot, and sticks it into my shoulder. This one hit me, but it's nothing too much. I can deal with this much without any problems, so I am completely fine.

Exhale…

—He is about to punch me, but I block it with my right hand.

I grip his hand, strongly. He tries to free his hand from my grip, but I don't let him to do any of that. Then—!

"SKIN RIPPER!"

I shout that, and Spiegelung's skin starts to peel off.

"Gah—!"

Having his skin peeled off, Spiegelung doesn't feel comfortable. Now is my chance to finish this fight. I will deal the finishing blow, send him away, and then incarnate him with my Fire Magic!

I walk towards him. He cries in agony, however, his voice is dim, and gets diminished as time goes on.

"Spiegelung! This fight is my win! Once yet again, I win our fight. If you surrender and ask to retreat, I might consider letting you off the hook. Think for a few moments!"

I arrive, and blades appear beneath me, from my shadow.

This Inpei, he knows how to use Canis Lykaon.

"So, Spiegelung? Your choice? Are you going to admit defeat? Surrender and retreat, or will your pride outweigh your wit? I am willing to give you a few more moments to think what you will decide. Your choice is one of two: retreat and survive, or continue to fight against me, and be incarnated by my Dragon Flames. Choose. Make up your mind already. I will count to ten. Make up your mind by then."

Spiegelung's look has been that of a terrified man for quite a while now. He looks at me with a horrified look, with terror taking over him.

I start counting.

"One."

Spiegelung makes weird noises, and chants the words 'yes', 'or', and 'no'. He is repeating them nonstop.

"Two. Three."

To think you would still not make up your mind… I am quite disappointed, Spiegelung, I had much higher expectations from you. To think that _you_ out of all people, would disappoint me…

"Four. Five. Six."

I thought you will find your way through, countering my Skin Ripper, without having to heal.

"Seven."

You're…

"Eight."

…my rival…

"Nine."

…aren't you…?

"Ten."

 _Sigh_. I guess that's it, then.

"Did you make up your mind, Spiegelung?"

Spiegelung looks up to me, all so pathetically. I guess, after all, he wasn't the one I was expecting him to be. Maybe, just maybe… but maybe, I expected him a bit too much. I might have been asking the impossible.

Spiegelung looks up to me, screaming in agony.

"So? Did you?"

He looks at me with eyes full of nothing but one emotion: fear. If there was anything else there, it would have been the will to live.

"I…"

Spiegelung tries to say something, but Rei shoots an arrow.

"REI! I DO NOT CARE WHETHER YOU ARE MAOU BELPHEGOR OR NOT! IF YOU CONTINUE TO INTERFERE US, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO KILL YOU!"

I scream so towards Rei. My voice echoes. Then, finally, at last, Spiegelung speaks his mind. It seems like he made his decision.

"I will… retreat… with Inpei… Wait, what?!"

Before any of us noticed, Inpei just went off…? What? No, it couldn't be possible! Even with his lack of emotion and presence, even if I didn't notice him at the beginning and didn't keep an eye on him, I should have at least noticed something like this! There's no way he actually just went off!

…Or is there…?

No! There isn't, there shouldn't be, and there needn't to be!

—Then…

—!

Dozens—No, maybe even a hundred, or even more than that. I cannot count all that many swords!

I turn around, and see Inpei.

"So there you were, Inpei. Go on, retreat with Spiegelung. Now."

I warn Inpei in such a fashion. However… he doesn't retreat, and jumps back quite a few meters, and continues making blades out of the shadows.

No, that's not all. The dog suddenly got huge. That's…!

"Balance Breaker, huh? Darn it. This is becoming excessively complicated. I guess I'll have to check whoever that 'Master' of yours is. Nonetheless, right now, you two are to retreat, this exact moment. If not, then Spiegelung will not be the only one who will be incarnated by my Dragon Flames. Don't be a fool, Inpei. You don't seem to me like one, so I think you would most likely not act like one."

Inpei then thinks for a moment.

"Hmm… our lives, or Master's orders… which are more important? Without our lives, we won't be able to continue serving Master, which will consequently rob us of the right to obey his orders…"

He is struggling to decide between their lives and their master's orders…?

"Don't tell me you are seriously putting your master's orders on the same value as your own very life, are you?"

Inpei ignores my question for a moment, and continues thinking. A few seconds pass, and he answers my question.

"Yes, I do. This time, since Master told us to value our lives more than usual, I will take my peaceful leave."

Then, a slight bit of emotion lights up in Inpei's words.

"Really, I'd wish Spiegelung would stop being so selfish, and go on wrecking and havoc, and try to think of the others. Now I need to clean up after the mess he made."

He sighs and continues speaking, with the same emotion that burst in him a moment or so ago.

"For crying out loud…"

Then, before I notice anything more, they immediately leave. I wanted to check more than just that, but I guess that alone can do well enough for now.

…No, I was stupid for letting them go. I should have tried to get their master's identity out of them.

Be it torture, threats, or even both. I should have gotten the information out of them, regardless of the method.

However… I guess nothing can be done by now, huh? What's done is done. I… cannot change the past. —No one can…

* * *

Well, hello there! It's me again. So, let me explain a few things, that may or may not be obvious enough without me explaining, but more likely than not, aren't exactly that obvious. Anyways!

So, first things first, the setting. While you may or may not know, this story is set a few thousands of years after the LN. That's why there are _seven_ Maou, and not **four** , unlike what DxD offers at the start.

Second thing, power scaling. Long story short, Giichi is about Satan-Class, and so is Spiegelung. But both aren't quite using their full power. At full power, they are much stronger than this. And regarding Inpei... he is quite OP. He is as strong as these two, in case it wasn't obvious. And the "Master" that Inpei refers to... I'd like to avoid disclosing information about him. Just look forward to it in future chapters. Sorry.

Third thing, naming. You see some weird-ass names? Well, I am not too creative with names. So I had to use some weird methods to name my characters. If you think the names are too stupid, or whatever, let me know.

Fourth thing, chapter length. It should be pretty easy to notice the difference in length, between this chapter, and the first chapter. Basically, I am sorry for the first chapter being so short, but... more about the first chapter a bit later. Anyway, this length is about the length that I will be going for per chapter. If you feel it's too short, tell me, I'd like to hear what you think is a good length, what is too long, and what is too short.

Fifth thing, about chapter one. So, like I said, more about chapter one. Erm... about chapter one, I'd like you to think of it as something to keep in the back of your mind as you read future chapters. It will be more important later on. And before you ask what the heck it is, things will get explained during the third or fourth arc. Maybe even the fifth arc, but it's probably not going to be explained so late.

And... that's that. Another thing I'd like you to know is that I have included some hints about the story. You may notice them, but you may not notice them, either. They are quite subtle, so don't let it bother you if you don't notice it. I will try to do things like these more and more frequently. One more thing before I wrap things up: the first arc will actually be chapters 1-6, not 1-7, in the end.

So, to wrap things up, please tell me how I did with this chapter. With last chapter, it was quite hard to tell me how I did, with how things were, but now, please tell me all of your thoughts. What do you think of the characters? What do you think of how I introduced them? What do you think of my writing style? There are a lot of things I'd like to ask your opinions about, but that will be enough for now.


	3. Chapter 3: The Aftermath

**Chapter 3: The Aftermath**

* * *

Well… I've surely made a huge mess here. I guess the repairing bill will come to me, probably, huh? …Most likely. Ugh… I will just to try and get of it, or I am to pay some big money, is it so? This will be tough to avoid.

"Hey, you! Maou Asmodeus! The Barlishmire Fortress is reduced to nothing, because of your fight with that Spiegelung Lucifer! Not to mention, you even let him go! I hope you have the money to repair this castle, Asmodeus."

It's the bigshot who screamed as he got up from his chair and hit the table with his fist, the one who looked like he would be the owner of this Barlishmire Fortress. Coupled with him being the most angry around here regarding the destruction of the fortress, it'd be safe to assume that he is indeed the owner of this Barlishmire Fortress, just as I had already guessed before.

I am not in the mood to deal with this type of people… and I don't have the money to repair—or more like, build, a whole fortress. Fortunately enough, I do know someone who does have such money. This certain someone is exactly the one I need now, exactly because money-related things are pretty much his job.

That's right, I am talking about the Secretary of Treasury, namely Maou Mammon, who is currently Zahav Mammon, a modest and kind friend of mine, who just so happens to have lots of money.

Well then, now, I guess I will just have to call him over here to do what I need him to do. That is to say, settling the matter about the money, and repairing this fortress that is reduced to almost nothing, the Barlishmire Fortress.

I try to take my phone, but… carelessly enough, I forgot to take it with me. How could I even forget such an important thing? I guess it really is a good thing that Ajuka came over here, even though Rei was quite unnecessary, and was, in fact, a bother… but that's another thing.

Anyways, Ajuka has a phone. He can call Zahav, and, heck, he can even transport him over here instantly. Just what I need. …Although I can wait patiently for a few minutes, I guess.

"Ajuka, I am in a bit of a bind here. I would call Zahav to help me by myself, but, you see… I forgot my phone at home, so I can't call him. Do me a favor and call him. Tell him I am in a need for money, a load of money. Enough to perhaps even buy or build a big fortress. Also, tell him that I am waiting for him at the Barlishmire Fortress. …Or, at least, whatever has remained of it… I think he will understand."

Ajuka calls Zahav, and Zahav picks up the phone quite quickly.

"Zahav, Giichi asked me to tell you that he is in a bind here, over at the remnants of the great Barlishmire Fortress. He told me he is in a need for a whole lot of money, enough to even build a big fortress."

{Hahaha… Understood. I'll be there in an hour or so. Tell him to wait for me, and please don't tell him it will take an hour, but rather 20 minutes. Thanks up ahead, Ajuka.}

"Ah, no, thank you, Zahav."

{Well then, I guess I will now go. Later, Ajuka.}

"Later, Zahav."

I heard a beep. They must have finished their talk. Ajuka then comes towards me, and tells me what Zahav told him to tell me.

"Giichi, Zahav says he will be here in 20 minutes, so you wait for him over here."

20 minutes? That's quite fast.

"Okay. Thanks, Ajuka."

"It's nothing, Giichi."

Ajuka then urges Rei to go with him, and Rei inclines.

Well, Ajuka probably has some business he needs to attend, and more likely than not, he is trying to make sure that Rei isn't slacking off, which would be why he is going with him.

It's tough for him, too, huh?

* * *

20 minutes later, I am still waiting.

"He definitely lied to me. No, Ajuka didn't lie to me. Zahav told Ajuka to lie to me, so that I won't just go half-way through. They got me good…"

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT REPAIRING MY FORTRESS, THE BARLISHMIRE FORTRESS?! HUH?!"

He is so noisy. Tone it done a little bit, old man. Oh, wait, actually, I am probably older than him.

"Tone it down a little! Wait patiently."

"Wait…? Wait, you are telling me? You are telling me to wait?! Wait for what? For you to run off because you don't have enough money to cover for your ass?! Huh?! Is that what you are planning to do?!"

"Seriously, just shut up. It takes time to get to here, okay? I also want to go back already and be spared from dealing with people like you. So just wait, you got it?"

The man is groaning before accepting he has to wait. Finally. Took him some time to relax. That said, he will probably scream at me again in the next 10 minutes or so.

* * *

Additional 10 minutes have passed, and Zahav is still not here. What's taking you so long, Zahav? I don't want to stick with this guy for too long.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Thought it would come by now.

"Chill, you're noisy."

"ARE YOU TELLING ME TO CHILL?! ARE YOU TELLING ME, THE OWNER OF THE GREAT BARLISHMIRE FORTRESS, TO FUCKING CHILL?! HUH?! I'M NOT GOING TO CHILL JUST BECAUSE A RANDOM MAN HAS TOLD ME TO, WHETHER HE'S MAOU ASMODEUS OR NOT! HMPF!"

Oh, this is going to be so annoying…

"Listen, that great Barlishmire Fortress you are talking about repeatedly, as you can see for yourself, is now reduced to almost nothing. Most of it isn't but ashes. It can barely be called even remnants. Stop being hung about it so much."

"Why you…!"

I sigh.

"Listen, owner of the Barlishmire Fortress. Whoever you may be, I do not care, at all, okay? Just being hung over your pride isn't going to magically bring it back to you, you know. I told you before already, but I am also waiting for Zahav to come and get me out of this situation."

A moment of silence passes, and I continue.

"Wait patiently. That's all I can do, and that's all you can do, just as well. We both have nothing to do but wait now. So just shut up, and wait patiently, like you should."

"Hmpf!"

Did he just pout again?

I sigh.

"This surely enough… is going to be a pain in the ass…"

I sigh again.

Please, Zahav. Come quickly. I can't bare him for any much longer.

* * *

30 minutes later, I see Zahav in the horizon.

"Zahav! You surely took your sweet time, huh?"

"Sorry for the delay, Giichi. I apologize for lying to you like that. Really. Sorry."

Zahav goes towards me at a normal pace as he says that. Muscular, low figured man, he wears an apologetic expression on his face. Gentle blue eyes, and blonde, with bits of it being white, short, slightly messed hair. His beard isn't exactly tidy, and its color is white. Well mannered, he is fully clothed, formally, as a Maou should be. His aura is one that is rather comforting.

"Well, what can I help with, Giichi? I heard you needed a lot of money, such that it is enough to build even a big fortress."

I point at the Barlishmire Fortress, or more correctly, whatever is left of it.

"Well, you see, Zahav. I was supposed to have here a military meeting. It was going to be a discussion about what to do regarding the punishment of a certain terrorist, who is troubling a lot of people, Spiegelung Lucifer. And, so, I went over here today, and guess what, he came to attack me."

"GET TO THE POINT ALREADY! I CAN'T WAIT!"

It's the same guy from before. He was just about like that through the last 30 minutes or so. It's quite troublesome, I have to say. And did I already say it's annoying? I sigh, make a troubled expression, and continue.

"Anyways… since Spiegelung attacked me, who was anyway a terrorist that I was to be discussing regarding his punishment, I thought I might as well just defeat him, here and now. And, well, in a sense, that's what I did. I fought him, and defeated him. What happened as a direct consequence of that… is the Barlishmire Fortress getting reduced to these remnants of it."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Ugh… he's so annoying. Let me finish. I'm almost there, for crying out loud.

"Hah… Well then, so… I let them run, but that doesn't matter. More importantly, this person over here is bugging me to rebuild his fortress. I think you already get the gist of what is going on, right, Zahav?"

Zahav replies in a joking manner.

"The usual, huh, Giichi?"

"This joke is usually partially funny, but right now, the timing is…"

Zahav laughs it off a bit, and I can only blush as I get embarrassed. To be honest, who in the world destroys castles and huge buildings on a daily basis? Well, not on a daily basis, but still, quite frequently.

"Well then, I guess I will just have to give you money, and the rest… you will likely be able to manage yourself. Finding men to do the job… you can leave it to the owner of what was a fortress. Funding, I can give you money. Well, you know what to do."

"Well, it's not the first time that I destroy a castle, but as per usual, it is the owner's first time getting their castle destroyed, so… I guess this man deserves an explanation, like all of the other owners who got their castles destroyed because of me. Like we usually go at it, you do the explanation. I can get to it, but explaining how it is done is beyond me, you know, Zahav."

"Indeed, I'll have to explain it myself to this man over here."

Zahav then starts to explain to the owner of the Barlishmire Fortress, what is going to happen for the next day or so.

* * *

An hour later, said owner still struggles with what Zahav says.

"So you are saying that…"

"Yes. Indeed."

"But…"

"No problems there, either."

"Hmm…"

Woah… good luck with that one, Zahav. …But I guess I also need someone to wish good luck to me, too. I see something. It's something that will ruin everything.

The usual, huh? Indeed, quite so.

I see two people going towards me, from afar. One is problematic, and the other… is clearly being dragged over here by the former…

The first one is Sakurako Leviathan. With her enticing purple hair waving in the air, and brilliant purple eyes sucking me into them, she is a beautiful girl, one with a quite low figure, like that of a child, and big breasts. Her choice of clothing is likely her trying to distract me. I mean, I can clearly see her cleavage, quite a bit of it.

The second one is Diehauser Belial. Grey hair, and grey eyes. Quite muscular, and high, pretty attractive male figure. Normally, he would be quite intimidating, but right now, being just dragged by Sakurako into all of this, he isn't all that intimidating.

"Gicchi~!"

Sakurako screams so as she waves at me whilst dragging Diehauser into this mess.

I sigh.

"This would be enough of a mess without you, Sakucchi. Don't make it worse."

"Erm… I do not think I am anyhow related into this, Sakurako…"

"Haha! Don't sweat these small details, Beli!"

"But my name is Belial…"

I know that feeling all too well, Diehauser! I know your pain!

Sakurako reaches here with Diehauser, who she is dragging, immediately leaving him as she leaps towards the owner of the Barlishmire Fortress and looks at him with a quite intimidating look, especially for her, and speaks.

"Who are you?"

"Eh?!"

Oh, no. She just ruined a work that required an hour from Zahav… I am not going to do what he did all over again!

I go and grab Sakurako.

"Come with me for a second."

"E-E-Ehhh…?! Wait a moment, Gicchi! I did nothing wrong. Leave me, Gicchi! Beli, help me! Gicchi is oppressing me!"

As I continue dragging Sakurako, I sigh.

"What a noisy girl…"

She then makes cute noises and pouts.

Well, she already made a mess, I guess. But I do think it's still better to keep her mess at minimum. …Because it explodes quite quickly, I know this from experience.

Diehauser is making a perplexed expression, and I sign him that I will explain what is going on later.

"Zahav, sorry for robbing an hour of your time. I should have seen Sakucchi making a mess coming from even before you came here."

"Without her messing everything up more than it already has, that would be messed up on its own, though. Don't you think so, too, Giichi?"

I laugh a big and reply.

"Indeed, you are completely right, Zahav. Sakucchi not messing things up is something like the equivalent of you without your composure."

Zahav just smiles back at me.

"Okay then, I'll keep Sakucchi at bay. It may sound weird, but anyway, while I keep her at bay, you make sure things go well with the owner of the Barlishmire Fortress."

"Thanks, Giichi."

"No, it's nothing compared what you have to deal with."

"Same to you."

I smile at Zahav and immediately take Sakurako who, this whole time, has been pouting at me and trying to free herself from me, moving around a bit too much. Keeping her at bay might be harder than I remember… ugh…

* * *

3 hours later, I am tired, and so is Zahav. The owner of the Barlishmire Fortress is also tired, seemingly, and so is Diehauser. To be honest, Sakucchi is the only one here who isn't tired after what happened.

"Thanks, Zahav. So, the building will be finished tomorrow, you say? Quite fast, for such a huge castle."

"Yes, something like that. Well then, I will have to excuse myself already. While I have had made some time for you Giichi, I am a busy man, as you know all too well."

"Yes, sorry for bothering you, Zahav."

"Well then, see you later, Giichi."

"Later, Zahav."

Zahav then goes off, and then Diehauser says something.

"Well, I guess I will also leave."

"Oh, later, Diehauser."

"Ehh~ don't leave us, Beli!"

Sakurako immediately starts crying like some child. While she is cute when she behaves like this, it is a pain in the ass to deal with it afterwards.

"Ah, don't mind Sakucchi. I will not be surprised if you were doing something important and she just dragged you."

"Well then, I shall take my leave now. See you later, Giichi."

"Later, Diehauser."

Then, Sakurako, who has finally stopped crying like a child, speaks.

"See you later, Beli…!"

Oh, so now she is a child who sees their parent off? Why are you crying again?! What is wrong with you, Sakurako?!

I sigh.

"Well then, I guess I will also take my leave. You should also go do something. There's nothing to do here. Later, Sakucchi."

And, as I go home, Sakurako rushes off at my direction, and clings to me. I just continue going as if nothing happened.

I knew this was going to happen. While I destroy castles, by mistake, quite frequently, and Zahav comes to help me with it, and Sakurako comes just to trouble me… this one thing, Sakurako clinging to me on my way home, is something even more frequent, so much so, that it happens on a daily basis, regardless of everything else.

* * *

After some time, we reach my home, and what I see is a certain person near it. That one certain person is…

"Oh, hello there, Giichi. I have been waiting for a while now."

Sirzechs Lucifer. He has a rather tall and muscular figure, and looks like a man who is in his early thirties. He has crimson red, smooth hair, which reaches to his shoulder; his eyes are blue-green. He is quite attractive, to sum it up.

"Sirzechs? What are you doing here?"

"Well, like I said, Giichi, I have been waiting for a while. Obviously enough, I waited for you, Giichi."

"Ah, one moment, please."

I go towards the door, and open it.

From the outside, this house looks posh and extravagant, larger than one would need for living alone. It has been built with sandstone and has oak wooden decorations. Large, octagon windows let in plenty of light and have been added to the house in a fairly asymmetrical pattern.

The house is equipped with an average kitchen and one modern bathroom, it also has a warm living room, one bedroom, a fairly large dining area, and a spacious basement.

The building is shaped like a squared S. The two extensions extend into a covered patio to each side.

The second floor is smaller than the first, which allowed for a roof garden on one side of the house. This floor has roughly the same style as the floor below.

The roof is low and slanted to one side and is covered with black roof tiles. Two large chimneys poke out the center of the roof. Several long, thin windows let in plenty of light to the rooms below the roof.

The house itself is surrounded by a modest garden, with mostly grass, a few flower patches and a children's playground.

"Well then, please, get inside, Sirzechs. …You, too, Sakucchi."

"Yay!"

While Sakucchi is cute when she is pouting, she is also cute when she is jumping around ever so happily.

We enter the house, and I give Sirzechs a seat. The reason I didn't give Sakurako a seat is because she already took one.

"Well then, Sirzechs. As far as I see and understand, you came here to talk to me about something, more likely than not, an important thing. What is it?"

"Ah, don't be so tense. I just came here to speak to you casually, Giichi."

For a busy Maou to just visit someone so casually… Hah…

"Is there any Maou that is taking his or her job seriously?"

Sirzechs and Sakurako immediately raise their hands, synchronized.

Oh, no. Sakurako alone was childish enough, but now Sirzechs is acting the same way as she does… it isn't going to be easy, is it? Ugh…

I sigh.

"How could I forget Sirzechs is as childish as Sakucchi? I was careless!"

Sakurako starts to tear up… as per usual, and Sirzechs is now saddened and upset. The two of them seem to resonate strongly with their childish behavior.

This isn't going to be easy, huh? …Well then, I guess I'd better boil water and give them some tea, since it looks like they are going to stay here for quite a while.

"Well then, I will go make some tea…"

I say that as I sigh and go with a defeated posture, towards the kitchen.

Later, as I bring the tea towards them, I see they are playing Old Maid. I pour them tea as I watch their game.

"Hmm…"

It's Sirzechs' turn. He looks at Sakurako's face, or rather, expression, as he is about to take each card. Right now, she is managing a poker face. Left, and she is happy. Right, and she is cool. So the Joker is to the left, huh? Quite obvious.

…So why is Sirzechs taking the left?

"I lost again!"

Sirzechs, are you seriously playing, or are you just messing around? Sakurako, why are you making such a smug expression? And, wait a moment, you said "again"? Does that mean it's not your first loss? Were the rest of the losses the same?

I sigh, and a couple of moments afterwards, I serve the tea to them. Sakurako still has the same smug expression from before, and Sirzechs is bent, as if he is accepting defeat and is prepared to die by the hands of the enemy.

I face-palm.

"Mercy!"

"No, it's my win."

Why is Sirzechs looking like he is about to be killed by Sakurako again? Actually, more importantly, why is Sakurako looking like she is about to kill him? It's fuckin' Old Maid, you know! What are you even thinking it is?!

I serve them tea. Sakurako looks at me like I'm her servant bringing her tea. Excuse me, but I ain't your servant, Sakurako. Stop this smug. And why are you still with the same defeated expression, Sirzechs?! …I'm at loss of words. These two… they might be a bit beyond me. …I can't handle them.

However, their stupidity didn't stop there.

"Please, Sakurako, have mercy! I'll do anything!"

"…If you are frustrated, get stronger."

…I give up. These two are beyond my abilities. —No, I mustn't give up! This is my house. If I don't calm them down, then who will?! Besides, if they will get out of control, I will be the one who's house will be destroyed!

"You two, chill. Drink your tea, and stop making Old Maid to some weird… whatever you were making it. Just calm down, and something… I don't know, maybe, a little bit more, how should I put it… "normal", perhaps?"

"You are suggesting that we weren't playing Old Maid, Gicchi?"

What's that intimidating look, Sakurako? What are you even… ugh… I seriously want to give up. This is going to be tiring.

Then, Sirzechs also says something.

"Giichi, what do you mean by "normal"? Are you implying that what we were doing is not "normal"? …Hmm. I guess the problem lies within playing Old Maid, Sakurako. I figured out Giichi's words' meaning!"

No, you didn't! There's no problem with you two playing Old Maid. This is getting out of hand. …Actually, it was already out of hand a few moments ago. Ugh…

"Oh! You're being smarter than I thought!"

No, you were actually correct, Sakurako! Don't! …How can they keep up that stupid act for so long, really?

"Perhaps now, I can win against you, Sakurako, and redeem myself. …What do you think…?"

"—Um… actually, Sakucchi was—"

"Sounds interesting, Sirzechs!"

I was too late! No, it's better late than never. I know. I can do it. I can explain things to them properly!

"No, actually, Sakucchi was correct. I was suggesting you weren't playing normal Old Maid. I mean, I don't know what you did there, but it wasn't exactly Old Maid, was it?"

"You aren't lying, are you, Giichi?!"

"Are you, Gicchi?!"

Why are you two asking me if I'm lying? It's obvious that I'm telling the truth here! For crying out loud…

"I am not lying, Sirzechs, Sakucchi. You were playing the game correctly, to a certain degree. But then all this defeat and whatever master-slave relationship you established upon winner-loser relationship… is completely wrong. I don't know where you two got this idea from, really."

Then, they both drop their heads, in a rather depressed manner. I have a hunch about what's going on with them, but I hope I am completely wrong about it.

Then, they both resonate in despair and say "How can this be…?!", exactly what I have expected. I am the one who should despair over here!

Seriously, what were you two even trying to do?

"Look, how about we'll play another round of Old Maid? But now, the correct way, got it, you two?"

They both answer positively.

"Good. Now then, we will play basically the same way as you two did, a few moments ago, but we just won't bet our lives… or whatever you two did."

* * *

An hour later, we have played a few games, and just finished the last one of those. I am still trying to figure out how Sirzechs lost most of the games. …I know you can do it if you try, Sirzechs! I'm rooting for you!

"You still have a lot to learn, Sirzechs."

Sakurako, you also have a lot to learn.

"H-Hmpf! If I try, I can win, you know! …Hmpf!"

Sirzechs, I know you lost a lot of times, but why are you acting like a tsundere, all of a sudden?! Did I miss something that happened as we played? Anyways, at the very least, I have managed to somewhat keep them at bay, I guess.

"You two, relax. It's just a game.

"Just a game, you said?!"

"Giichi, did you just say it's just a game?!"

"Yes! Now calm down, because it _is_ just a game!"

They both look at me with a menacing look. I think this is starting to get out of hand again. Things get out of hand quite quickly with these two, don't they? It's quite taxing on me to deal with these two. I am starting to get tired again.

"Is this the work of an enemy Stand?"

No, it isn't! And you can't just do a JoJo reference! That's not going to make the situation anyhow better, you know!

"I also suspect so, Sakurako. By the way, what are you referring to?"

If you don't get the reference, then don't go along with it, Sirzechs! I can't keep up with their stupid acting… this is too much!

I sigh.

"I am getting quite tired. After all that happened today, I want to be alone for a bit, and sort out my thoughts."

Sakurako hesitantly swings her head as she thinks. In the end, she understands me, once in a long while, and leaves with Sirzechs.

* * *

I go towards my basement. It's quite wide, and rather clean. Over there, a single man stands, having waited for me for some time now. That man is…

"I have been waiting for you, Giichi."

Yi Cheng Hyoudou. He is a Chinese descendant of Issei Hyoudou, to shortly sum up his identity. His body is a quite muscular and high male figure, of someone in his mid-twenties, unbelievably beautiful.

He has a short, slightly curly, beautiful black hair. His eyes are of an unusual gray color, slanted in a manner much like a fox as if hiding his being. Atop all of that, his clothes are as fancy as they get.

Another thing to note is, he has a mysterious vibe around him, and it is possible to understand, only from looking at him, right away, that he is a smart man.

"Well done, Yi Cheng."

Yi Cheng politely bows.

His manners surely enough, are top-notch.

"—Yi Cheng, how is it coming along?"

"I assume it will be complete in the near future."

"Does the near future mean another thousand years, or another hundred years? Make it so that it will be complete in less than ten years, Yi Cheng."

Yi Cheng slowly raises his head, and looks at me, as he speaks.

"When I say the near future, I mean something like the next month. No need to worry about the efficiency of my work, or its speed, Giichi."

"I see… I'm sorry for doubting you, Yi Cheng."

"No, it's completely fine, Giichi. I just do what I must."

"Sorry, but you're the only one I can trust, Yi Cheng. That's why you have to go through such a tedious work. It's all… my fault."

Yi Cheng apologetically lowers his head, having nothing to say. After a few moments of silence pass, I speak.

"Have there been any troubles so far?"

"Nothing major thus far, Giichi."

"The road has been… smooth? Or is it too good to be true?"

"It has been slightly bumpy, but that's inevitable, Giichi. That much is fine, and more than that, is to be expected."

"You're right…"

I take a sit, and so does Yi Cheng. I look at a certain picture, losing myself for a few moments, before Yi Cheng speaks to me.

"Is that…?"

"A-Ah, yeah. It's that picture."

"My condolences."

"It's fine, Yi Cheng. That's our reason to do what we do."

I put the picture away, and Yi Cheng tells me another thing.

"By the way, about the road… as far as I see… there is a certain bump for you, soon enough, Giichi. Or, actually, quite a few bumps. I'd suggest to be careful."

"Hmm… I see. Thanks."

"And, speaking of these bumps… the day after tomorrow marks a certain bump. You have been called to a meeting again, Giichi."

"Haha. It's not quite easy, being the Head of the Hyoudou Clan."

"I wish you luck, Giichi."

"Indeed, I will definitely need that."

I pick up a certain sword I have at my basement, and as I look at it, Yi Cheng speaks to me again.

"It's quite troublesome, isn't it?"

"A lot of things are troublesome, Yi Cheng. What are you specifically referring to, with that statement, may I know?"

"—Having people you can trust and people you can't trust, classified the same way, is troublesome. That's what I referred to, Giichi."

"Hmm… certainly. You just reminded me of how careful I should be around the people of the Hyoudou Clan. Even though I am the Head of the Hyoudou Clan. …Quite ironic, if you'd ask me."

Yi Cheng laughs for a couple of seconds, before calming down and eventually speaking to me again, and reassuring me.

"Although, Giichi, you have me. Don't worry. Things are to go the right direction. I am certain of it."

"Your right is my left, though, Yi Cheng."

A few moments of silence pass, and I admit my joke was bad.

"You had me there for a moment, Giichi."

"Don't be so considerate, Yi Cheng. You can say my joke was bad if it was. I'd prefer people to say bad things in my face, but speak the truth, rather than speaking good of me, while all they say isn't but lies."

"That's… rather extreme, Giichi."

"Perhaps. But that's the reason I don't trust the people of the Hyoudou Clan. While they are supporting me, in reality, they only support me because they have no other choice but doing that."

I look at Yi Cheng for an awkward moment of silence, and continue afterwards.

"Had they had a different choice to choose, they would, without a doubt, choose the alternative, and definitely not support me."

"Even me, Giichi?"

"Maybe even you, Yi Cheng."

"That's…"

"Well, you lie out of being considerate, unlike those guys. They lie just to gain my favor, but you lie just to be considerate."

"I see…"

A few more moments pass, and I ask Yi Cheng about the bump after the bump which will occur in two days.

"Hmm… the bump after that might be a week afterwards."

"Hmm…? A week afterwards? What will be in a week and two days from now?"

"—There will be a Rating Game."

A Rating Game? That shouldn't be hindering Yi Cheng's progress, unless the opponent is really strong, I'd guess. Besides…

"A Rating Game shouldn't a problem, though. …Or is it a rather formidable opponent that we are to fight against, Yi Cheng?"

Yi Cheng lowers his head, looks at me, and says a certain name.

"Kaiser Phenex."

Kaiser Phenex… the man I defeated a year ago, and took the championship title, of the Rating Game from…?

"Former champion of Rating Game, is it, Yi Cheng?"

"Indeed. He seems to have analyzed you deeply and assumes to have had done enough research about you to counter most, if not all, of your powers, tactics, strategies. Or that is what he says, at least."

"However, depending on the type of a game it will be, we might have the advantage over him. Nevertheless, a year of frustration, a year of analyzation and research, all of it directed at me… that's not a simple thing. Certainly enough, it might be a bump."

"Shall I inform your servants ahead of time, Giichi?"

"Yes, please do inform them of the Rating Game. Also, tell them to be careful. At least, more than they were, or needed to be, last time."

Yi Cheng bows politely, afterwards replying to me.

"Yes. I will do my best to do as you command me to, Giichi."

"Good. I will be counting on you, Yi Cheng."

Yi Cheng stands a bit stiffly and replies.

"Yes! I will make sure that you won't be disappointed, Giichi! I will see to it, making sure the job is done!"

A few moments of silence pass, and I remember something I had in mind, that I wanted to ask Yi Cheng about.

"—Ah, that's right!"

Yi Cheng makes a perplexed expression and tilts his head in confusion, and afterwards, I immediately continue.

"Today, when Spiegelung Lucifer attacked me at the Barlishmire Fortress, something was off about him, and everything, as a whole, this time."

"Something was… off, you say?"

I take a deep breath.

…Relax, myself…! Everything is going to be alright. I am sure I'll find out everything, and things will settle down, soon enough. With Yi Cheng's help, I will get back, soon enough. …Back to everyone—.

I exhale, and answer.

"Yes. Today, not only was his timing different, but someone accompanied him."

"I see…"

A couple of seconds worth of awkward silence pass, and I continue speaking.

"The difference in his timing was quite simple: usually, he would take his time before attacking me, which resulted in the meeting ending and only then he attacked. However, this time, he was quite early, and attacked before the meeting even began. Either he had his timing off all this time, or this time, there was a certain reason for him to be earlier than usual. I have reasons to suspect of the latter being the case."

"Indeed, that would be weird. By the way… what is it about the one who accompanied Spiegelung Lucifer? Who is that person, and why did they do it?"

"That someone is Inpei. Besides his name and gender, I only know that he is the current user of the Longinus, Canis Lykaon. He is quite skilled at maneuvering it, too. As for their reason, I will explain it in a moment."

I look at Yi Cheng, straight at his eyes, as I continue and speak.

"His motive would probably be a command from his so-called master, I'd say."

"Command? Master?"

Yi Cheng seems to be confused a bit.

"You see, that Inpei referred to a certain someone as their master. Since Spiegelung has referred to that master as him, I'd suspect the aforementioned master to be a male."

"You don't mean…"

I affirm Yi Cheng's immediate suspicion.

"That's right. Spiegelung's attacks haven't been just some random attacks at me because of his old grudge or something like that. Well, actually, they might have been because of personal reasons, but still, he had someone commanding him. This Inpei, too. He has someone commanding him, too. Although, it seems like Inpei respects their master much more than Spiegelung does."

Yi Cheng's expression changes from a confused one to an amazed one.

"You certainly gathered a lot of information in a single battle against Spiegelung, Giichi, haven't you? —I'm quite amazed, to say the least."

"Your amazement is written all over your face, Yi Cheng. No need to state the obvious, right? …Anyways, I wanted to ask you if you have any information about Spiegelung's so-called master, or about Inpei, but… as far as I see, from your former confusion, to your current amazement, you don't know anything about them, do you?"

Yi Cheng lowers his head in deep regret of his lack of knowledge, and speaks.

"I am very ashamed of being of no help to you, Giichi."

"There's no need to be ashamed of yourself, Yi Cheng. Instead of being depressed and regretting knowing nothing of them currently, you can start researching about them. I'll read your reports later, and I will then see if I can find, by myself, anything other than what you have already found about them."

Yi Cheng's expression is a bit weird, but before I can think of anything regarding it, he answers with passion.

"I will try my best…!"

As we continue to speak for a few moments, one more thing that was bothering me for a while now had just come to my mind.

"And so, you see—"

"Yi Cheng, I have remembered something that I should have said earlier. Listen to me for a bit."

"What is it, Giichi?"

"It's about Seiichi…"

"Ahh… I see. Don't worry about that, Giichi. I will make sure it's all settled, so you will not have to worry about it."

"Thanks. I guess Kiyo is a bigger worry, isn't she?"

"You certainly enough haven't seen her in a while. She might even slap you for leaving her all alone for so long."

I laugh for a bit, and reply.

"Indeed, I can see her doing that. And if we're talking about Kiyo, you already know what I am about to say, don't you?"

"Rule number 1: Kiyohime is to never be lied to, or we are all doomed. …Is that what you were about to say, Giichi?"

"The phrasing is a bit problematic, but the rest is better."

I gasp as I remember something else regarding the same topic.

"Ah! About informing everyone, I can already inform Sakucchi by myself. Rather, she will probably insist on not coming until I inform her by myself."

"Couldn't the same be said about Kiyohime?"

"Ugh… that's true…"

A few moments of silence pass, and I continue speaking.

"Well, Chiron and Heracles won't be a problem. I guess I will have to go personally to Sakucchi and Kiyo, though. However, Seiichi, Akihito, and Albert… I definitely leave them to you. Not only is Albert's whereabouts unknown, but Akihito and Seiichi aren't going to listen me the first time. Well, Seiichi will never listen to me, but Akihito will just not listen to me the first time, however, they will all listen to you the first time."

"I see…"

"It's quite weird to see a peerage in which the [Queen] has more influential power than the [King] has, isn't it?"

A few moments of silence pass as Yi Cheng thinks of a positive and reassuring reply to my words, and then replies.

"Erm… it's not weird, but rather unique, Giichi! Yes, it's unique, not weird! Don't get down just because your peerage is unique, Giichi!"

That's not quite reassuring, though…

"It's not really helping me, but it's the sentiment that counts, Yi Cheng. Thanks."

A couple of seconds pass away with an awkward silence.

"Ah, that reminds me… I haven't read your monthly report yet, or even your daily report, for that matter, have I?"

"I… guess you haven't…"

That's quite ambiguous.

"What's that supposed to mean? Anyways, give me those reports. I need to get through them, right? If I don't go through them now, then when will I?"

"Tomorrow, perhaps?"

That's sneaky.

"Anyways, you know what I mean, Yi Cheng. Just give me those reports, and let me go through them. After that, I guess I will go to sleep, since it's getting quite late already, isn't it?"

Yi Cheng gives me the daily report, the weekly report, and the monthly report, of both the Hyoudou Clan related ones, and the ones between him and me personally.

As I read…

"Hmm? You didn't tell me about this thing, Yi Cheng. What is the meaning of this?"

"Ah! I forgot to tell you about it. I'm so sorry!"

I sigh, and afterwards reply to Yi Cheng.

"Well, whatever. What's been done has been already done. There's nothing we can do about it anymore."

"I'm really sorry…!"

"I already told you it's fine, didn't I?"

Regardless, it's quite a serious matter.

"For you to just go ahead and do such a thing… it's unbelievable. You're the last one I expected such a behavior from, Yi Cheng."

"I can't say anything for my defense. I am legitimately sorry!"

"Hah… never mind, it's fine. I will just have a busy day with Kiyo in the near future, that's all there is to it."

While I do say that, it still is quite a serious matter. He just went ahead and told one thing he shouldn't have said, to Kiyo. This matter isn't going to be resolved with simply something like "it was a mistake", since it would mean Yi Cheng have lied to Kiyo, and that isn't something I want her to think. Since, well, she hates lies more than anything else in this world.

…I guess I will just have to do what he said I'll do.

"I didn't think it will bother you this much, Giichi."

"No, it's fine, Yi Cheng. It's something that was bound to happen, sooner or later. She wouldn't have sat quietly without making her own move. After all, she learned how to revert to her human form for the sole purpose of having love with someone honest, who won't ever lie to her. If I lie to her now, she will do something outrageous."

"That's…"

"However, if I just sit here without doing anything, it won't do good for her purpose, either, which will inevitably make her go with her move."

"I see…"

"Anyways…"

Before I continue speaking any further, I find something else that disturbs me, and I immediately express my thoughts.

"Look, one mistake is still forgivable, but making two huge mistakes is a bit…"

Yi Cheng bows apologetically and replies.

"I'm so sorry!"

I sigh. We continue speaking like that, as I read his reports, and eventually go to sleep.

…I'm surely enough going to need this sleep…

* * *

Hello there, again. It's me, the author. So, I need to apologize for not being thorough enough. So, in chapter 2, I wrote "him/her", but I intended on her. I just forgot to edit it into it. Sorry. I will fix it in the PDFs. Speaking of PDFs, the first PDF will most likely be chapters 1-6 - The Introduction Arc - the first arc of this fanfic!

Speaking of this fanfic... I have slightly bad news. While I might be able to keep publishing chapters monthly for now, I'd like to take a hiatus of 6-12 months after publishing chapter 6. So, let me explain.

Right now, I have started sort of working, which heavily reduced my free time, AKA the time when I write this fanfic. Now, this isn't to say I will drop this fanfic, or will publish at a really slow pace all of a sudden. No, at least until I publish chapter 6, I'd like to keep this at a chapter per month rate. However, if I want to continue publishing my fanfic regularly after chapter 6, I'd like to pile up quite a few more chapters, so that there will be much less pressure when writing a new chapter.

That's right, I said more. I might have not said that, but as of right now, I am already writing chapter 6. Actually, maybe scratch that. I think I might be re-writing chapter 5 instead, and maybe just not write chapter 6 at all. I hope I manage to change it enough so that I can write chapter 6, though. I will give you an update on it in chapter 4.

Anyway... I am piling up chapters in preparation for occasions such as this - suddenly having much less time than usual. However, that might raise a certain question for some of you.

"Then why go on a hiatus of 6-12 months if you already have quite a few piled up chapters?"

Well, for that, there are a few reasons.

First, like I said, I won't have as much time. So I might end up writing chapters much more slowly, and the published chapters will catch up with my piled up chapters, which won't be really good.

Second reason: the second arc will be quite fast paced. I'd like to publish it at a chapter per week pacing, if possible. For that, I will need to pile up A LOT of chapters before publishing at such a speed. Hence a hiatus for half a year, or even a year.

The third reason would be a combination of the two. On top of not having much time, I would need to pile up much more chapters than I have piled up, and I'd like to make them as good as I possibly can, which means I cannot just half-ass all of the chapters.

So, all of that aside, I'd really like to hear from you guys. You've still never given me any review. Building criticism is very much appreciated! Or just telling me what you liked about the fanfic, or this chapter. Or perhaps what you didn't like. Or just tell me how awesome I am, or how bad I am. I really want to hear what you guys have to say, so please, don't be so quiet - say something. Thanks ahead of time.


	4. Chapter 4: A Vampire and a Dragon

**Chapter 4: A Vampire and a Dragon**

* * *

Two days have passed, and I am currently on my way towards the meeting place of the Hyoudou Clan, to which I have been summoned to, which is because I am the Head of the Hyoudou Clan.

The streets are full of people, who often come to me and telling me hello, recognizing me as the Head of the Hyoudou Clan, to which I reply as much politely and plainly as I possibly can.

Dealing with Kiyo was quite handful. Calming her anger wasn't easy at all. And now I will have to see her much more often.

However, compared to Sakurako, Kiyo was still reasonable, making it possible to try to calm her with reasoning. But when it gets to reasoning with Sakurako… it's basically an impossible feat.

Well, regardless, I have already gone through these things. Thankfully, the results are positive, in both cases. I guess it is thanks to my long-term relationship with these two, which let me understand them better.

If I am to continue waking through this road, there will be more alleys, which will mean less people, which would mean more silence that is peaceful to me, and that's something I am not going to refuse.

Nevertheless, it will also mean it will be easier for people who target me to send their assassins to kill me, or perhaps capture me. Nonetheless, the alleys are the shortest way to get to there, and I don't exactly have much time to waste, which is since I didn't pay attention to time and fooled around with Sakurako this morning.

"Oh, hello there, Giichi Hyoudou!"

"Oh, it's indeed him!"

"The Head of the Hyoudou Clan!"

"I've heard so much about him, and his greatness!"

"So did I!"

A few people gather around me, recognizing me as the Head of the Hyoudou Clan, an important person of some sorts.

"Yes, yes, I am Giichi Hyoudou, the Head of the Hyoudou Clan, indeed."

"Where are you headed, Giichi Hyoudou?"

"Sorry, but I am in a bit of a hurry. There's a meeting I must attend to, quite soon, so I have to go already."

I continue walking, ignoring all of the people that gathered around me, which inevitably included some media people. This might reduce the risks of me getting attacked at the alleys, but it will also take away the peaceful silence with it.

I guess this is a fair trade.

* * *

A few minutes later, as I walk through the alleys, I see two men from quite afar. It's a bit weird to see pretty much anyone at these alleys, but since I am walking here, I guess it isn't all that weird, after all.

Well, whatever, not my business.

However, as I continue walking, getting closer and closer to these two…

—!

A knife stabbed me. The one who stabbed me with a knife is a man of a blonde, blue eyed, tall and quite muscular figure, who looks like a man in his thirties, dressed in plain clothes, and covered in a robe. It seems like he also has an axe, and he has a shield on his back.

I immediately take a few steps back.

"To think you can stay unfazed after receiving a stab from me… you might be as much as the rumors make you seem."

"He most likely is strong, Unheil."

Unheil. That must be that knife user's name. The one who said his name is a man of an average height, quite a bit muscular figure, who looks like a man in his twenties, his late-twenties, to be precise. His eyes are black, and his hair is a slightly messy brown hair. He seems to wear some sort of protection.

"Might be so, Richter."

Richter. That would probably be the other man's name.

"Who are you two?"

"I am Richter Belmont, a Vampire. Obeying Master's orders, I am here to kill you."

"Likewise, I am Unheil Drachen, a Dragon-Human Hybrid. Giichi, I will kill you!"

Richter Belmont—a Vampire, and Unheil Drachen—a Dragon-Human Hybrid, is it? It seems like I will need to get Yi Cheng researching on these two, as well.

"I'd really like to know who this master of yours is."

"There's no need for us to give our master's name to someone who is about to die here, you know, Giichi."

"Indeed, Master's name is of no concern for someone who is going to die."

Both Unheil Drachen, the Dragon-Human Hybrid, and Richter Belmont, the Vampire, reply to me with that, respectively.

Then—!

—Unheil Drachen comes at me with his axe. However, I dodge his attack. After that, Richter Belmont attacks me with his fangs. Nevertheless, I punch him in the face, which he immediately tries to escape from, but cannot.

We all take distance from each other, immediately afterwards.

I sigh.

"To think you two are actually serious at trying to kill me… you might have gotten a bit overconfident of your abilities."

Then, Richter Belmont speaks.

"Are you suggesting we cannot kill you?"

Unheil Drachen continues.

"To think of that, you'd need to have a clear measure of how strong we are, which quite obviously, isn't something you have."

A clear measure, huh?

"I have a rough measure, and that rough measure is enough to tell me that you two can't defeat me, much less kill me, even with your powers combined. …Regardless of that, I am in a bit of a hurry to a meeting, so I can't really bother on you two for too long. I'll have to defeat you two quickly, which is what I am going to do!"

—!

I immediately appear in front of Unheil Drachen, and kick him in the abdomen, sending him off quite afar.

BOOM!

Then, as Richter tries to attack me with his nails, I catch his hand, and break his bones, afterwards dragging him towards me. After dragging him towards me, I throw him away.

"Did you see that? Just like I used a rough approximation of your power combined from your _failed_ —"

As soon as the word "failed" came out of my mouth, Unheil Drachen started running towards me, dropping his knife and axe, and readying his shield to be put to use for his to-be fight against me.

"—attempt to surprise attack me and assassinate me with it, I assume you two can also try to use this demonstration of power to roughly approximate my power, and with that, understand how you two cannot defeat me, combined—."

Just as I finish speaking, Unheil is in front of me, throwing his fist. Meanwhile, I'm just smiling as I keep my cool.

—I catch his fist, and throw his hand, immediately punching him in the chest. Whilst I punch him in the chest, he is moving his head, trying to bump his head at mine, after failing to punch me. However, I am faster, and throw him away.

BZZT!

Richter tried to use lightning Magic to attack me, but I saw that coming already, and evaded that easily, afterwards coming towards him.

I throw a punch, and tries to dodge it, but I adjust the speed to match his speed, so he cannot avoid my punch.

As soon as I come to kick him, though, he bumps his head in mine. His head is stronger than I suspected, I have to say.

"I see, I see. So Unheil uses physical strength, and Richter uses his fangs and nails, but can also bump his head in mine. Interesting."

As soon as I finish speaking, Unheil and Richter, come at me again, at certain times, both of them together, and at times switching positions. Nevertheless, I just continue to speak, as if nothing happened.

"…But, even if you are interesting, it doesn't change the fact that I am in a slight hurry to a meeting, so… play time is over. I am now going to defeat you two already."

I spoke as I dodged attacks from the two of them.

Then—!

I punch the two of them, simultaneously, throwing both of them afar, each in completely different direction from the other.

BOOM!

I then jump at the direction of Unheil, appearing almost immediately after throwing him and Richter off in different directions, and kick him off to the ground.

I land, and he tries to punch me, but I swiftly dodge. I then punch him, and he tries to block my punch with his shield, which, much to Unheil's dismay, immediately breaks after receiving my punch.

"What—?!"

Incapable to come to reality with his all-so prideful shield, being broken so easily, by just a single punch of mine, Unheil's response is only that.

Nevertheless, I continue.

I punch him a few times, quickly, and still caught up in his shock, he just receives all of my punches, without anyhow remotely dodging any of them. After receiving those few punches of mine, he lies on the ground, unconscious.

"Okay, that's one down. Now to the other one."

After saying that, I spread my Dragon wings, and fly at the direction I threw the other one, Richter, towards. Momentously, I reach him, and he tries to escape me, seemingly having already landed as I dealt with Unheil.

As he runs, he makes various barriers to stop me from getting close to him, still running, make sure there is enough distance between us. As I go through all of those barriers as if they were a child's play, he starts chanting something, probably some powerful Magic of some sort. Powerful in his standards, that is.

"Come forth, fire. Heed my words, and obey my commands."

I reach the first barrier, and punch through it, shattering it with ease. Then, as I'm going towards the second barrier, Richter continues chanting, fearing nothing, seemingly. I'd guess he trusts his Magic that much.

"In the name of the Great Ones, I am here. Come to my aid, fire."

I break the second barrier with a kick, and continue going towards Richter, which also means going towards the third barrier.

Well, let's see how strong this Magic of his is. As long as he isn't as skillful magician as Spiegelung is, it should pose any problem.

"In the name of Richter Belmont, I command you: destroy the threat upcoming!"

I bump my head at the third barrier, and continue going towards Richter, or, accurately put, flying towards Richter.

"I got you, Richter!"

As I scream that, Richter finishes chanting his magic, and calls it forth.

"Great Fire of the Heavens!"

As soon as he says that, a fire beam comes at me from the sky, and as soon as I dodge it, yet another fire beam comes from the sky. I dodge that, too, but another fire beam comes at me from the sky, and as soon as I dodge that one, numerous fire beams come towards me from the sky, leaving me little to no space to escape.

"I see."

As I say that, Richter's expression changes from a serious expression of someone who has the situation under control, to a confused one.

"What are you…?"

Instead of evading every fire beam that is being shot at me, I will just go straight ahead, towards Richter, and punch him a bit until he cannot move. That will do.

Then, I stop, land, and put my right leg in front of me. After the fire beams finish hitting me, a moment of menacing silence passes, and I immediately rush towards Richter, and he just stands there, dumbfounded as he sees his all-so-powerful Magic proved useless against me. As I am right in front of him, I stop for a moment or so and speak to him in a rather frightening tone.

"Try better next time, Richter. …If there will be a next time, that is."

Immediately after saying that, I punch him in the chest, two times, and kick him in the stomach, sending him off quite a distance. Right afterwards, I rush towards him, and as soon as I reach him, I punch him a few more times, however, unlike Unheil, I didn't punch him until he is unconscious, but instead, until he cannot move, while he is still conscious, so I can question him about some things.

"Ahh—!"

He immediately spits blood, before anything else. Well, as long as he cannot move, but can still speak, that is okay.

I then start questioning him… about something I really want an answer for.

"So… I'd like to ask you something, Richter."

"UM—!"

Richter starts vomiting blood.

Hmm… I suspect he isn't going to last too long, is he? I wouldn't mind that too much, but I need him to last at least long enough to answer my questions.

"Just wait! Unheil is going to come at you, and he will help me defeating you!"

"Unheil is unconscious, Richter. He cannot come to your help."

"That's…! Impossible! How can it be?!"

"Quite simple, really. I just punched him a few times, and that's it, pretty much. I did nothing special to defeat him, or you."

"—Nevertheless, even if Unheil cannot come to help me, I am sure… that Master is going to send someone else to help me!"

Richter looks at me with resentment filling his eyes.

"About that Master of yours… who is he?"

"It's none of your concern!"

I sigh.

"Unheil is unconscious. You are unable to move. I am completely fine. Your master is not going to send someone to help, more likely than not. However, I am willing to let you two go if you will tell me who your master is."

"Hah! Even if you know who Master is, not even _you_ can defeat him!"

"Oh…? That's quite an interesting statement you made there, Richter. Based on what do you think so?"

"As if I'd tell you anything about Master! I'd prefer to die, rather than saying anything about him to you!"

This isn't getting anywhere, is it? Hmm… how can I convince him to say something, at the very least…? Well, they say that people show their true selves when they die, so I guess I can try to go with that…

"You'd prefer to die… is it?"

"Y-Yes!"

I grin.

"—Then die."

I insert my hand inside of Richter's body, and go over to the other side. Richter is utterly shocked at seeing how serious I was with what I said.

"You… UGH—!"

He vomits blood, and I just continue looking at him with a serious look, suggesting that I am going to kill him if he doesn't say something.

"So…? Got anything, Richter? I don't have much time, either. Spit it all out immediately, or you'll die."

"I already told you… that I've got nothing to tell you about Master! …That I'd rather die, and not tell you anything!"

I sigh.

"Well then… die, I guess."

I twist my hand, making a bit of a mess inside of Richter's body, afterwards taking my hand out, which makes him bleed a lot.

"W-W-W-WAIT A MOMENT, GIICHI!"

Figured as much.

"So? What is it that you have to tell me about your master?"

"Before that, you promise you will let me go after I tell you about him?"

"No. Why should I? I just give you a chance. And even if I did say I'd let you go under the condition of you telling me some information about your master, you'd suspect I am lying, anyway, so there's no need to try so hard."

I make a devilish smile, as I speak with honesty.

"Then I won't speak!"

"Why? Don't you see that you don't have chance? Can't you see that your only chance is telling me something about him?"

"I am rational enough to not rely on chance!"

"Too bad, then."

I just go away, slowly, before—.

"Wait, I _can_ say something, after all! Just help get out of here!"

"Well then…?"

"Master… he is—"

The moment he starts speaking, one particular sword comes from the shadows, just to silence him, and almost kills him.

Then—!

"Richter Belmont. I thought you were more loyal than this."

The one who says that is a quite muscular man of average height, who looks like a man in his mid-thirties. The man has short white hair, with some of it being slightly bright brown, and lifeless, dark brown eyes. Accompanying him is a quite big dog.

I immediately notice that man. It's none other than Inpei—.

"Inpei!"

"Giichi, I'd like to ask you to let Richter Belmont and Unheil Drachen off the hook this one time. At least, before they start opening their big mouths and reveal anything about Master. If not, then I'd have to hold you off until Spiegelung will come to my aid and we will defeat you with our combined forces. Full forces, that is. Even _your_ full force cannot match Spiegelung and my full force. With that said, I will take Richter Belmont and Unheil Drachen with me."

"Who told you I am letting you off the hook?"

I get closer to Inpei, and he takes distance as I close the distance between us. I adjust my speed to overcome his, and as I am right beside him, he punches me in the faces, runs off quickly, and numerous blades come from the shadows, stabbing me all over my body, damaging me quite a bit.

"You possess much more strength than you showed last time, don't you? I am impressed, quite so. If that's anything near your full force, then I do not have a chance against your and Spiegelung's full force combined, indeed."

"So I assume you will let me take the two with me?"

"Much to my dismay, I let you. …Although I doubt Spiegelung would accept defeating me by combining forces with you. Well, that possibility is too dangerous on its own, regardless, so I will let you go this time."

I turn and ignore Inpei, fearing the possibility of him and Spiegelung defeating me with their full powers combined.

I then continue going to the meeting, and I do not face any major threat by the time I reach the headquarters of the Hyoudou Clan, where the meeting is to be held.

* * *

I get there, and as soon as I enter, three major people related to me are there.

First is a quite muscular and high male figure, of someone who looks like he is a man in his mid-twenties, with an unbelievable, unmatched beauty.

Equipped with a special bow, he has a bit curly, short, shiny black hair, and unusually gray eyes, slanted, in a rather foxlike way, as if hiding his own being.

Atop all of that, his clothes are fancy beyond imagination. His aura is a rather weird, and mysterious. Just by looking at him, it is easy to tell that he is a quite smart man, if not a prodigy.

That man is Yi Cheng, my [Queen]. However, he isn't just any [Queen], he is a Mutation Piece!

The second one is a passionate redhead, with brilliant blue eyes. He is a tall, muscular man, who seems to be in his mid-twenties. He is carrying an axe on his back; he has two pistols in two pockets and together with all of that, he also has a single simple bow near his axe. That man is Seiichi Hyoudou, the former Head of the Hyoudou Clan, and a [Pawn] of mine. He has consumed five pieces.

The third one is a man of a slightly short, quite thin figure, of a man that looks like he is in his early-thirties. He has a slightly long, smooth, blonde hair, and blue eyes. It isn't exactly easy to spot his weapon. He carries a dagger, which is slightly visible, but what isn't visible, is his numerous other daggers, which he would throw at times, and at other times, dual-wield.

That man is Albert Hyoudou, a [Pawn] of mine. He consumed one Mutation Piece. He is cunning at battle, and has a baffling personality, he isn't a man that is easy to grasp, nor is he anyhow to be underestimated, as that might very well be his strategy at times, given a situation that requires him to act as such.

"Welcome, Giichi. We have been waiting for you."

"Hah, you bet we have been! I still can't believe you are the Head of the Hyoudou Clan, Giichi. You're being way too irresponsible!"

"Now, now… calm down, Seiichi. While Giichi may have come to this meeting slightly late, it doesn't make it for an opportunity to lash out on him, does it? Especially because of our request, the main reason for this meeting. Isn't it right, Yi Cheng?"

"Indeed. Your words are correct, Albert."

The three chat between them, casually.

"Sorry for being late. Something came up while I was on my way."

As soon as I say that, Seiichi starts questioning me.

"And what might that something be, huh? Did you fall asleep while going here? Or did you perhaps buy something on the way? Either way, your excuse is unacceptable! You are the Head of the Hyoudou Clan, you know! Act like one, at least occasionally! I can't bear to see the Head of the Hyoudou Clan acting so irresponsibly! Next time, make sure you don't fall asleep amidst the way. Got it?"

"Before you lash on me, Seiichi, I'd like you to listen. A Vampire whose name is Richter Belmont, and a Dragon-Human Hybrid, named Unheil Drachen, have attacked me on my way here."

Then, unexpectedly, Albert has something to tell me.

"Surely, you can deal with measly a Vampire and a Dragon-Human Hybrid, can't you?"

"I can, and it was quite easy to deal with them. However…"

"However?"

"However, as I started questioning Richter, someone else showed up, who is on a whole different level, called Inpei. I might have not told you yet, but Inpei is the current user of the Longinus, Canis Lykaon."

I breathe, and continue speaking, starting to explain to Yi Cheng, Seiichi, and Albert, who exactly Inpei is. Although, Yi Cheng already knows of him.

"I first met Inpei during the mishap at the Barlishmire Fortress. Right before I defeated Spiegelung, he appeared, and made things more complicated. At the time, I haven't got a clear measure of his full power, but today I could get a better approximation, and he would be as strong as Spiegelung, I'd guess."

The very moment I finish speaking, everyone starts to mumble something, all shocked by the fact that there is another big threat like Spiegelung.

I continue speaking.

"Ahem! Nevertheless, that isn't all. Inpei refers to a certain "Master", who Spiegelung seemingly knows, as well as the aforementioned Richter and Unheil. Well, what I was trying to get to, was that Inpei made a threat that made me give up capturing and later on questioning Richter and Unheil, more thoroughly."

Yi Cheng then asks me a.

"A threat, you say?"

"Yes. He said that if I won't let Richter and Unheil off the hook, he will have to hold on until Spiegelung will come to his help. Furthermore, he said that he and Spiegelung will defeat me, using their full forces, combined, which will, according to Inpei, surpass even that of mine. While I don't think Spiegelung is the type of man to gain his win by cooperating with anyone, the possibility was still there, and it was quite frightening, if I may say so myself. One more thing I'd like to add to all of this… is that Richter said, that his master is stronger than me, that even _I_ cannot defeat that master of his. Due to lack of information, I have no means to confirm whether it's true or false, but I'd like to make sure we know, just to be sure."

I take a deep breath. Saying so much at once is quite bothersome. Well, now that I have finished speaking, everyone needs to take that in, which would probably take some time, so I guess I can wait like this for a few moments.

However—.

—!

BOOM!

"What is that?!"

Everyone immediately gather around the window, which has been broken. Over there, two people I have met earlier are. These two are the Vampire—Richter Belmont, and the Dragon-Human Hybrid—Unheil Drachen!

Upon seeing the Vampire, Richter Belmont, with his Vampire wings spread, as well as the Dragon-Human Hybrid, Unheil Drachen, with his Dragon wings spread, seemingly, Yi Cheng, Seiichi, and Albert, immediately understand the two that have come abruptly, to be the Vampire—Richter Belmont—and the Dragon-Human Hybrid, whose name is Unheil Drachen.

They look at me with slightly doubtful eyes, seeking to confirm their immediate inner thoughts, and I reply to theme positively.

"Yi Cheng, Seiichi, Albert. Your thoughts are correct. These two are indeed the two I have talked about earlier."

The exact moment I say it, Yi Cheng punches Richter, takes out his bow, and shoots an arrow at Unheil. Then, Seiichi jumps with his axe at Unheil, severely injuring him with his axe, afterwards shooting Richter with his two pistols.

The two—Yi Cheng and Seiichi ask me to just stay where I am, letting them do all of the work, and tell Albert to guard me, since I am the Head of the Hyoudou Clan, who they cannot afford to just lose.

"—Seiichi, let's switch!"

"You just want the stronger opponent, don't you, Yi Cheng?"

"Partially! Nevertheless, this Vampire is stronger than the average Vampire. No, he is leagues above the average Vampire."

Indeed, now that Yi Cheng mentions it, I feel a rather strong power, flowing inside of Richter. Power, much stronger than what I felt when these two attacked me at first.

Then, Seiichi answers Yi Cheng's proposition positively.

"Okay then! Let's switch!"

Momentously, the two switch places; now, Seiichi is the one in front of Richter, and Yi Cheng is the one in front of Unheil.

Seiichi is standing near him; ready any moment to attack with his axe. At the same time, Yi Cheng stands near his own opponent, ready to throw a fist or a kick at him, ready to attack at any second.

Meanwhile, in front of Seiichi, Richter is crouching, ready to jump at him with his fangs and nails, at any moment. Moreover, in front of Yi Cheng, Unheil is standing, and he's taking the arrow Yi Cheng shot at him a few moments ago, out of his left leg, as he is readying himself, and his shield, positioning properly and according to the situation.

—!

The very moment Seiichi waves his axe, Richter jumps in an insane speed, immediately afterwards appearing behind him, and stabs his nails at him. In addition, before Seiichi has even noticed, his axe was scratched.

Over at Yi Cheng's side, the moment he kicks Unheil, he moves accordingly, and blocks Yi Cheng's kick with his shield, trying to punch him right after that, but failing because Yi Cheng saw that coming and dodged it instantly.

"Hmm… it's quite a rare sight, to see Seiichi getting hurt in battle so easily. Don't you think so, too, Giichi?"

"Indeed, it's like you say, Albert."

Right… it's not normal for _Seiichi_ , of all people, to get hurt so easily. Not to mention, he even got his axe scratched. Richter got much stronger than before, in such a short period. How could he pull that off?

Then, as I think, Albert continues commenting on Yi Cheng and Seiichi's fight against Richter and Unheil.

"On the other hand, Yi Cheng isn't even breaking a sweat against his opponent, Unheil, despite Unheil being hurt less than Richter is."

Well, I wouldn't say a few bullets do more damage than even a single arrow of Yi Cheng, however, putting that aside, now that Albert mentioned Unheil, I can see how Richter got so much stronger so quickly.

"Well, you are making a few mistakes, Albert."

Albert makes a perplexed expression, and I continue speaking.

"You see, first off, Richter's injuries are rather inferior to those of Unheil's. Comparing a single arrow of Yi Cheng with a few bullets is a huge mistake. Yi Cheng's arrows are not any simple arrows, you know."

"However…"

"Secondly, regardless of the difference between bullets and Yi Cheng's arrows, there is another thing to consider, Albert."

"Another thing to consider, you say…?"

I continue explaining to the seemingly slightly confused Albert.

"You see, while normally, Unheil would probably be quite stronger than Richter is, at this moment, Richter is stronger than Unheil."

"But how would Richter be stronger than Unheil, if the opposite is true normally?"

"Oh, that's simple. Richter is a Vampire. What can Vampires do to get rather stronger really quickly? —That's right, Richter drank Unheil's blood, which flipped the power balance between the two, which is why Richter is stronger than Unheil is, currently."

"I see…"

As we spoke, Yi Cheng and Seiichi continued fighting their opponents. Yi Cheng wasn't even scratched, and Seiichi got little injuries. However, the two still are getting rather close to finishing this fight, regardless of the one each faces.

"What was your name again? Richter…?"

"What is it?"

"Are you prepared to get your hand cut off?"

"What?!"

Then, immediately, Seiichi swings his axe, and cuts off Richter's hand, the latter getting shocked at the sight of his own hand getting cut off, despite already seeing me getting my hand into his body and getting out from the other side.

And after that…

"You would be Unheil, wouldn't you?"

"U-Umm…"

"Prepared to die, are you?"

"W-What are you…?"

Unheil replies shortly, and ambiguously, while, as he tries to defend himself, he's trying to maintain his distance from Yi Cheng.

"Well then, bad boys need a punishment, you know~!"

As he says that, Yi Cheng breaks Unheil's new shield, and takes his fist all the way to Unheil's face, throwing him off quite a bit, whilst Yi Cheng maintains a serious, deadly, and threatening expression on his face.

"This fight's conclusion is nigh, isn't it, Giichi?"

"It indeed is, Albert. After all, fighting Seiichi or Yi Cheng… these two must be out of their minds. Oh, well, they also tried to fight me, so they are, certainly enough, out of their minds."

Then, Richter bumps his head onto Seiichi's, inflicting some pain on Seiichi, but failing to inflict any serious damage on him.

"Such a puny head-butt will do nothing to me, Richter. Try something better."

"Hmpf!"

"—Something like this, perhaps!"

Seiichi takes out a shotgun, puts it near Richter's head, and shoots, without thinking, or even aiming, for that matter. Nevertheless, luckily for Richter, he manages to barely go off without his head being blown off; hardly evading Seiichi's shot. However, Richter's luck runs out immediately afterwards, when Seiichi shoots his chest instead. This time, Richter doesn't manage to escape, and… surprisingly enough, he only gets a mediocre injury on his chest.

Over at Yi Cheng's side, at the same time, Yi Cheng kicks Unheil who just got up after being thrown off by Yi Cheng's punch, only to later be shot with an arrow by none other than Yi Cheng. After receiving Yi Cheng's arrow a second time, now in his solar plexus, Unheil starts to feel tremendous pain.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Yi Cheng's arrows aren't any plain arrows. They are special arrows. They are enhanced by his Magic, but that's not all of it. It seems like each of these arrows is made from the scales of some special Dragons, which, he got during the Great Break, according to him, at least.

"Since you are a Dragon, how about I'd use some Anti-Dragon arrows now? I am sure that you will feel it even more!"

After he says that, Yi Cheng pulls a really big, and long arrow, and on its tip, something can be seen.

I wonder what that thing is… I don't think I ever got to see that arrow.

Then, Yi Cheng explains.

"You see, this arrow right here, my special arrow, is a special arrow, which has a special poison on its tip. Specifically speaking, that poison is Trihexa's blood—ah, no, no, no, I mean, Samael's blood. …Although, unfortunately, this is only artificial. I called these arrows as the following: Samaelian Arrows, fittingly to what they do."

Samaelian Arrows? I've never heard of these. It makes some sense, since I didn't ever see them in action, but I think Yi Cheng should have at least told me about them.

"—Well, at least I can satisfy with the name's nice ring!"

After saying that, Yi Cheng shoots the Samaelian Arrow at Unheil, who is still confused by what Yi Cheng just said. Nonetheless, Yi Cheng just adds more worrying details to what he already said.

"Ah, by the way! I just remembered. You see, aside from having Samael's blood on its tip, each Samaelian Arrow is made from scales of Samael! …Samael's _REAL_ scales…!"

—Then, the arrow hits Unheil, expands after hitting, and blows off.

Yi Cheng still adds more details to the Samaelian Arrows.

"Ah, you see, these arrows are also enhanced by my Magic, which commands them to expand and blow off once they hit their target. However, since these are quite important, I make sure to retrieve them every time, and restore them, making sure they are usable for the next time I'll need them."

As Yi Cheng says that, he rushes towards the fallen Unheil, takes what remains of the Samaelian Arrow, and puts it in his pocket.

"So… only Seiichi needs to defeat his opponent now, huh, Giichi?"

I nod at Albert's words.

Meanwhile, over at Seiichi's side, while having a hard time finishing Richter off; Seiichi still has the upper hand.

Both Seiichi and Richter breathe heavily, whilst they glare at each other, analyzing the situation, thinking what to do.

"—I think this is the only thing I can do, since Unheil got defeated. Not to mention, he got defeated by Yi Cheng…"

Right after Richter finishes saying that, he moves in a God-like speed, after jumping at Seiichi, and he scratches Seiichi nonstop, in an absurd speed!

"Should I help you, Seiichi?"

"No need for that, Yi Cheng! I got this situation under control…!"

While Seiichi claimed to have the situation under control, which was true until a mere moment ago, Richter is now cornering him. Nevertheless… Richter's movements are a bit different. Something about Richter's movements is… different.

"Giichi, is it me, or are Richter's movements… How should I put it…? Is it me, or are Richter's movements getting "crazy", so to say…?"

Crazy? That's it! Richter is going mad!

"That's… probably correct, Albert. How did you get to that conclusion?"

"Not too sure myself. But I think it was a hunch, of some sorts."

A hunch, huh? Well, whatever.

Then, as we speak, Richter corners the Seiichi, even more than before. Nonetheless, the more Richter corners Seiichi, the closer Seiichi gets to figure out what to do.

"—Hnn! I got it!"

Finally understanding the situation, Seiichi begins to throw Richter off, getting back his control over the situation, a bit by bit.

"Seiichi finally understood it, didn't he, Giichi?"

"Indeed, he finally understood it, Albert."

Then, Seiichi takes out his bow, and shoots an arrow at Richter. However, that arrow, while just a plain regular arrow, isn't a regular arrow anymore. Not after Seiichi shot it, that is. The reason is, he used Power of Destruction to enhance it.

The moment Seiichi's arrow hits Richter, Seiichi seizes the opportunity to enhance his axe with Power of Destruction, and cut off Richter's leg, rendering him immobilized.

And with that, the threats have been safely removed. Now the meeting shall finally start, and I will find out what they summoned me for.

* * *

Hi, it's me again, the author. It's been a month, eh? Well, one good thing is, I have got a review, finally! And... there are some things I'd like to update you guys about, so please listen.

Well, so about my progress: I have just finished writing chapter 7 recently.

And, about this chapter's length, I am really sorry. I just couldn't get it any longer than this. Speaking of which, I have sprinkled quite a few hints across these past few chapters. Hints, for future plot lines that will get executed. Although, seems like those hints are rather subtle. ...And some of which require some analysis.

Regarding this chapter's length, fortunately, the next chapter just so happens to be the longest one I've written so far, so look forward to it! It's really long, so I actually hope it will make amends for this short chapter.

Speaking of which, Yi Cheng is awesome. I haven't managed to show his badassery enough in this chapter. Unfortunately, the next chapter will still not show it. Next chapter will show the badassery of a different character. You can guess in your free time. Nevertheless, I think you'll really like the next chapter.

However, I have hypothetic bad news. Are you prepared? No? Okay, I'll wait. Still no? Okay, one moment. Well, maybe you were prepared from the beginning, in which case, sorry for taking this much of your time.

Anyway, I might go on a hiatus of two years, instead of just 6-12 months. I mean, 6-12 months can make it easy enough to release the second arc weekly, but it won't be enough for the rest of what will be, I think. Not to mention, I am planning to re-write my other fanfic, which will consume more of my time. And that's without even mentioning I am going to be busy in the near future, so that's much less time.

Nonetheless, I will probably have a definite date in which I will return from my hiatus, once I publish chapter 6. Until that very moment, nothing is set in stone just yet, so maybe I won't even go on a hiatus, in the end! ...Although that will probably not come true.

About the second arc, I might have told you already, but it is a Rating Game arc. Chapter 7 came out to be pretty interesting. Well, it is somewhat comedic, and the fight is kinda intense yet not intense... it's something weird. ...But it's interesting! I think. I hope. Probably. Likely. I really hope it actually is interesting, and I am not just getting over myself. Regardless, putting all of this aside...!

Thank you for reading, and I'd really like to hear your opinions! It can be in PM, too! Just tell me what you guys think. What you guys think I do well, and what you guys think I don't do well. What you guys find interesting, and what you find shallow. What you find fascinating and what you find disgusting. Everything, anything, it is all okay, I just want to hear what you guys have to say! Although, I'd really like to review me. Building criticism is most appreciated. Don't be shy, really. Just write a review, tell me if I suck or no, and just publish. Well, since I already bugged you guys enough, I guess this is time for me to just go off, and see you off, until next time, next chapter. So I'll just do that. See you guys next chapter! It's going to be really good, so look forward to it!


	5. Chapter 5: Hyoudou Clan's Meeting

**Chapter 5: Hyoudou Clan's Meeting**

* * *

"Giichi, wait a moment, don't go just yet! We aren't done yet! —Giichi!"

Ah, yeah, I am quite sure this is somewhat awkward, and you might not fully understand what is going on here, so let me fill you in with the details. _All_ of them, if you do not mind that.

So… a quick recap: two days ago, I—Giichi Asmodeus—also known as Giichi Hyoudou… went to the Barlishmire Fortress. I pretty much destroyed it whilst fighting Spiegelung Lucifer, who attacked the aforementioned fortress. Ajuka Beelzebub and Rei Belphegor came over, as well, but weren't needed in the end.

Right immediately, I had to pay for the damages I caused. So I called Zahav Mammon, yet another Maou who I am acquainted with, since he has lots of money. After he got there, Sakurako Leviathan had to make things worse for no reason, and I still didn't figure out why the heck she brought Diehauser Belial along with her.

As if that day wasn't busy enough, I had to deal with Sirzechs Lucifer, right after that, and he got along with Sakurako's stupid act.

Two days later, and I was on my way to this place. However, a certain Vampire, Richter Belmont, and a certain Dragon-Human Hybrid, Unheil Drachen, attacked me on the way here, which wasn't exactly what troubled me.

So… I toyed with these two for a while, but I got serious a little bit later, and quickly defeated them with ease. Nevertheless, as I questioned them, something unexpected has happened—Inpei, the current user of the Longinus, Canis Lykaon, has appeared.

I didn't want to fight with him at the moment, but that did not mean I let them go just for that. Inpei's threat, of him combining his full power with that of Spiegelung, and just like that, defeating me, although not so realistic due to certain reasons, still was quite frightening.

And later, just a few moments after I got here, the two from before, Richter and Unheil, came here, probably to try to assassinate me again, but much to their dismay, I did not even deal with them. Instead, Seiichi Hyoudou—the former Head of the Hyoudou Clan—dealt with Richter, and defeated him. The same goes for Unheil—Yi Cheng defeated him, and I didn't even get close to him.

While that's a lot, that still isn't all I have to tell you.

—A few minutes earlier.

"What are you doing?! Your job is to guard this place, not take naps!"

The one who is screaming is Seiichi. He is angry at the guards for slacking off, or so he says, at least.

"No need to get so angry, Seiichi."

Yi Cheng tries to calm him down, but…

"Shut up, Yi Cheng! These guards should get punished! If you all will make _ONE_ more mistake, you will get a significant decrease in your salary!"

"Seiichi, Yi Cheng is correct. Please calm down…"

Now it's Albert who is trying to calm Seiichi down, but he still isn't.

"Don't order me around, you two! And you guys, get to your work already! Slacking off ain't gonna make it any better for you!"

For Seiichi to speak in such an informal language… he must be rather angry. Well, I'd guess it's now my turn to calm him down, huh?

"Seiichi Hyoudou!"

I scream at him harshly, with such a loud voice, that everyone stands stiff. Of course, the one who I call stands even stiffer, and immediately start speaking in a much more formal language.

"Yes, sir!"

"Calm down already. It's a _command_ from none other than me, the _current_ **Head of the Hyoudou Clan**!"

I provoke him, but I am also showing my authority over him, to calm him down.

"Okay, okay. …I get it. I'll calm down."

A few moments pass, and we all sit, each on their own seat. Of course, my seat is the most special one, being the seat of the Head of the Hyoudou Clan.

"Well then, what is it that you called me for… Seiichi?"

I look directly at Seiichi, the one who called me to a meeting. I have a vague guess as to what his will might entail, but from personal experience, it would be better to first and foremost confirm the suspicion before acting according to it.

Then, Seiichi answers my question.

"Ahem! As you may know, Giichi, you are using the surname Asmodeus, rather than Hyoudou, which disgraces us, the Hyoudou Clan, greatly! Thus, I have a simple request to you, the current Head of the Hyoudou Clan, Giichi Hyoudou!"

"Get to it already, Seiichi."

Seiichi then awkwardly pauses for a few moments, looking at me with a weird look on his eyes.

"—Anyway! My request to you, the current Head of the Hyoudou Clan, Giichi, is to throw your other, inferior surname, Asmodeus, and stop using it, in favor of using your superior surname, Hyoudou!"

Inferior? Superior? Oh, come on, that's getting stupid.

"Let me confirm first. …Is that really your reason for calling me?"

With passionate expression on his face, and inflamed tone, Seiichi answers my question, without any hesitation.

"Yes, it is my reason for calling you!"

I get up from my seat, and immediately go towards the door. Seiichi follows me right afterwards.

"Giichi, wait a moment, don't go just yet! We aren't done yet! —Giichi!"

—And, this is how the situation got into what it is.

"First, give me a good reason to stay here. Your words from a few moments ago, when you declared your reason, your request, are completely ridiculous!"

"What is so ridiculous about what I said?!"

This type of people won't listen with reasoning. My only options are either to subdue him to reason through violence, which I prefer to not resort to without any good reason to do so, or just ignore him, which I would consider the better option this time.

Therefore, that's exactly what I do. I just ignore him, and continue going, towards the door. I see I've been called for some nonsense, so I see no reason to stay.

And then, just as I am about to open the door—!

"Giichi, while Seiichi's words aren't exactly correct, he might have some point. I would like to ask you to stay here for a bit before leaving."

Yi Cheng is the one who stops me.

"If you say so, I guess I will stay."

I go back to my seat, and so do Seiichi and Yi Cheng. Then, Albert starts moving the discussion in a different direction.

"Seiichi, we are not too sure if Giichi doesn't ever use the Hyoudou surname, to begin with. So maybe, it's too early to just blame him like that."

"Well, _I_ am sure of it!"

I sigh.

"Seiichi, while I use the Asmodeus surname, like you say, I also make sure, at times, to use the Hyoudou surname."

"Well the root of this problem is that you use the Asmodeus surname at other times! If you are the _Head_ of the **Hyoudou** _Clan_ , then you shouldn't have another name!"

Oh no, this is going to be bothersome…

"You could say the exact opposite, too, you know? If I am the Maou, Asmodeus, then I shouldn't have another name. The current Lucifer, Beelzebub, Leviathan, Belphegor, and Mammon, have all done so. Diehauser Belial hadn't done that since his surname is originally Belial. So, why shouldn't I also do the same as they did?"

Seiichi gets slightly aback. However, being the passionate and irrational man he is, he still tries to convince me.

"But still…!"

Then, Albert stops Seiichi.

"Seiichi, Giichi's words are completely correct. If anything, he should be throwing away his surname of Hyoudou, along with his position as the current Head of the Hyoudou Clan."

Seiichi gets silent. Then, as Seiichi starts to accept it—

"…I… I guess you're right, Albert…"

—Albert decides to tease him a little bit.

"Well, you know… even if you might be willing to accept the latter, it's either both or neither, Seiichi."

"WHAT?! You…!"

He might have intended it to be no more than a simple tease, a jest; nevertheless, Albert has just hurt Seiichi's pride.

Fortunately enough, Yi Cheng immediately joins the conversation and calms down the now angry Seiichi.

"Seiichi, while Albert might be saying such things, regardless of whether what he said is true or not, for all we know, he might as well be the one who wishes to be the Head of the Hyoudou Clan, the most. So don't get so hurt over such a trivial matter, Seiichi, okay? ….Or should I say previous Head of the Hyoudou Clan?"

"Well, I guess you are correct, Yi Cheng… Although, well, since it's Albert we talk about, I'd say he would rather stay in the research he is conducting. What was it again?"

Albert immediately gets upset upon hearing Seiichi's mockery of himself, which he isn't going to stay silent about.

"Excuse me! It's an important research, done specifically to reach the roots of this clan, the founder of it! It's a research about Dragons! Fascinating, thrilling, full of surprises, and at times, terrifying! I would really like you to not look at it so lightly, Mr. _Previous_ Head of the Hyoudou Clan."

Yi Cheng takes upon himself the initiative to restore order to the meeting.

"Ahem!"

He immediately gets up from his chair, and hits the table.

"Albert!"

Before he notices, Albert gets a slap from Yi Cheng.

"Seiichi!"

The same happens to him. …Although, Seiichi doesn't exactly get why Yi Cheng does that, since he thought he is supporting him, while not getting his actual intentions.

"Both of you, silence! You are in presence of the current Head of the Hyoudou Clan! I do not approve of such argument, and neither does Giichi!"

Thinking Yi Cheng has finished speaking, Albert prepares to defend himself with some wise words, however, Yi Cheng mocks him before he does so.

"Also, Albert, it's a research specifically about _Humanoid_ Dragons! It is not a research just about Dragons. At least remember what your research is about, Albert."

Seiichi lets out a small laugh, and Yi Cheng immediately silences him.

"Seiichi, be silent!"

…This is getting out of hand. I guess I'll end this stupid argument or whatever it is, by just going off. It's not like there's anything else I need to do here.

"Well, doesn't matter. I'm going, anyway. I mean, we've just agreed on me using both names, haven't we? With that said, Yi Cheng, I am going, but you are to stay here, and settle things between these two."

Yi Cheng then replies negatively.

"No, Giichi. You aren't going. We need to interrogate the two intruders, don't we? We need you to also witness it, Giichi."

"Just do whatever you want, Yi Cheng. But I am going."

Then, Yi Cheng tempts me to stay for a bit.

"Even though we might find out some new information about that master… that Richter and Unheil referred to?"

That's right. There was that. I almost forgot. I guess I need to stay for that. …Or I might as well just start interrogating those two by myself.

"Well, then let's interrogate them already. If you do not tag along with me now, then I'll just do it myself. I don't really care, either way."

Yi Cheng is then slightly surprised, and after a moment of weird behavior, a bit of an extremely unexpected hesitation, waveringly, he accompanies me to interrogate the two intruders, bringing Seiichi and Albert along with him.

We then reach the two, a few moments later, and start questioning them.

"Well then, intruders, spill the beans. Who do you work for?"

Both of them give me no answer.

"Who is your master? What is his motive? Where did he find you all? What is his goal?"

Still, no answer.

"Staying silent won't do. Yi Cheng, do your thing."

"Aye, sir!"

Then, Yi Cheng starts torturing them, as ordered by me, in hopes to get some answers from those two.

He cuts Richter, and I start thinking.

Well, ever since Spiegelung and Inpei referred to their master, I thought it might have been someone like Ajuka, Sirzechs, for whatever reasons, or perhaps Kaiser, because of hatred towards me.

Richter screams, and Yi Cheng kicks his head, sticking it onto the wall, facing towards the ceiling, and scratching his throat. Meanwhile I continue thinking.

…However, with how these two attacked this place, that must mean that their master has access to some information that Ajuka, Sirzechs, and Kaiser, won't have. That is, the master that Spiegelung, Inpei, Richter, and Unheil, all refer to, cannot be Ajuka, Sirzechs, or Kaiser! …Well, maybe he can be Ajuka, since Ajuka has a rather wide net of information. Nevertheless, it's probably not Ajuka, since there's no reason for him to do all of that. At least, no reason that _I_ know of…

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

While Richter screams in agony, and Yi Cheng is continuing with his torture, I continue thinking.

Regardless, that means that the master they referred to, must have access to this place, or at least know of it. However, the only ones who even know of this place, are people of the Hyoudou Clan. That means… that the master that Spiegelung and co. referred to, must be from the Hyoudou Clan…!

Nonchalantly, Yi Cheng continues torturing Richter, but seeing how Richter is about to faint from the damage done, he immediately moves over to torture Unheil, questioning him as he punches and kicks him, plays with his mind, whilst letting Richter recover from the damage that he received.

Figuring out an extremely important hint to the mysterious master, I continue thinking, stopping to take any notice to whatever Yi Cheng is doing with Richter and Unheil.

A man from Hyoudou, being the mysterious master… Well, it cannot be Yi Cheng, for various reason. First, he is my [Queen]. I'd immediately notice that. Second reason: he can also be too suspicious. He has a shady look, but he gained my trust through these years that he served under me, that's for sure.

Then is it Seiichi? No, it couldn't be. He isn't smart enough to do that, nor is he strong enough to gather such amazing people around him. Spiegelung won't abide by someone weaker than him, and Seiichi is definitely leagues beneath Spiegelung.

Not to mention, that mysterious master has to be amazingly strong, not only because of Spiegelung, but also because of Inpei's dead expression. Something's off about him and that has to be somehow related to that master's identity!

…Then is it Albert? Hmm… I don't think so. He is too busy with his research about Humanoid Dragons, so infatuated with creating one, that he won't have time for such a tedious task, like being that mysterious master.

Then could it be my other [Pawn], Akihito Hyoudou? Hmm… I don't think so. He has been absent, which could make him suspicious, due to a lack of alibi, however, since he has been absent, he'd have no way of knowing of this meeting, so it cannot be him.

As I finish going over the people of Hyoudou who are my servants, I start to take notice of what Yi Cheng is doing to Richter and Unheil, again.

"Giichi, this isn't going well. These two do not answer, resolved to die, as long as they do not spread a word. At this rate…"

"No, it's fine. Even if they die, then that's all there is to it. All that it will mean is that their master will lose them, which will result in him losing some of his power. The end result would be in my favor."

Yi Cheng then asks me a question.

"However, Giichi, how will this be an interrogation, if we won't get any information from them, and just kill them?"

"Well, I did get a clue from their intrusion here, so it's not like this event didn't give us any information. They surely got me closer to their master."

Yi Cheng makes a perplexed expression.

"A clue, you say…? May I ask what might that clue be, Giichi?"

"Hmm… I guess I can trust you. Yeah, of course I can."

I take a deep breathe, and continue speaking.

"You see, these two attacked this place. However, how did they know about this place, given that this place isn't known to anyone?"

"…You're suggesting that their master has an access to such an information? That he knows of this place?"

"Well, since they couldn't follow me, that's indeed true. Their master knows this place, and likely even about this meeting."

Yi Cheng is surprised, and then asks me a question.

"But what would that mean? Surely, it can also be people like Ajuka Beelzebub, or even some other people with much less wider net of information, who still got some spies to here, which will give them this location."

"About Ajuka… he's dangerous in his own ways, but luckily, I don't think he has any reason to do such things. As to spies, no spy got even close to her and came back alive, so that would be impossible."

"Well, if a spy knew of this place and came back without us noticing them, then that spy is a good spy, and this possibility should be considered, Giichi. Nevertheless, given that what you say is true… it would mean that… You couldn't mean—?!"

Yi Cheng probably reached the same conclusion as I did, and is even more surprised, however, also slightly worried. …Well, not quite slightly.

"Yes, their master must be someone from this Hyoudou Clan. For all we know, he could be present here, with us, without us knowing."

"Hmm… I assume Seiichi, Albert, Akihito, and I are out of suspicion. So… that would leave not many. Even within the Hyoudou Clan, not many know of this place. We have a public headquarters for a reason."

"Yi Cheng, I know you can find that man. With this piece of information, it would make things even faster. …Although, next time, I'd like you to gather some clues, as well. I'm still not as smart as you are, Yi Cheng."

"What are you talking about, Giichi? How could I be smarter than you? I… I'm nowhere near you, Giichi!"

Polite as ever, aren't you, Yi Cheng?

"Even this clue that I managed to conclude, turned out to be under some heavy, strict, and extremely restrictive assumptions, which could be completely wrong, for all I know, which I wouldn't see without you, Yi Cheng."

"I did nothing, Giichi. However, I'll do my best to try and help you find that man, faster than I can."

"You're suddenly sounding like Seiichi. No need to be so polite near me, Yi Cheng. It's between me and you. I trust you specifically because you were so close to me, and didn't care about being polite, or at least, not as much as you do now. However, it's still fine, I still trust you, Yi Cheng."

A small smile forms upon Yi Cheng's face.

—!

Before I noticed it, two men were standing near the window. Well, one was floating.

One of them is a man of average height and quite muscular figure. That certain man has white hair that has some slices of brown. His eyes are brown and lifeless, lacking any sort of emotion or expression, completely. A certain little dog accompanies him, as well as all of that. I immediately recognize him to be Inpei.

However, the other one… I didn't know who that floating guy is. He is a middle-aged, tall man with whitened, slightly still blond hair, green eyes, and dressed in somewhat fancy black and white clothes, with slight red around the chest area.

Yi Cheng immediately responses upon seeing the two.

"Are those Spiegelung and Inpei, Giichi?"

"No… Inpei is here. He is the one with the brown eyes…! The other one… I'm not too sure who he is. I've never met him before."

Inpei then jumps out of the window, inside the building. He immediately rushes at me with a punch ready to be thrown. As he runs, he shouts towards the one still outside the window something.

"Caduto, come inside and support me! Even if Giichi was alone, it would have still been tough as is, but he also has other people with him. We might have to fight the legendary Monster of Hyoudou, as well!"

Caduto… is that the floating guy's name? Or is it someone who waits outside?

A couple of seconds after finishing saying that, Inpei finally throws his punch at me, but I immediately dodge it.

"Yi Cheng, you take that floating guy! I will deal with Inpei!"

"Understood, Giichi!"

Right after Yi Cheng says that, the little dog that accompanied Inpei became quite huge, and immediately came to him. Inpei pats the dog, and afterwards takes distance from me, preparing to continue the fight.

That's going to be quite troublesome. …However, the same goes for them.

I then start a little chat with Inpei before resuming our fight.

"A pain in the ass, isn't it?"

"What is a pain in the ass?"

"Rescuing these two weaklings, that is. Richter and Unheil… these two are pretty darn weak. Especially compare to you and Spiegelung. If that floating guy is as weak as they are, then I guess that makes things easier for me."

Unexpectedly, Inpei lets out a small laugh.

"What was that for, Inpei?"

"Sorry. You see, it's just that Caduto… might as well be stronger than me."

While this confirms to me that Caduto is indeed the name of that floating person, what Inpei just said… is quite terrifying.

"Stronger… than you?"

Inpei alone can give a hard time, and so can Spiegelung. If that Caduto is even stronger than Inpei… that makes things quite troublesome. I just hope Yi Cheng can handle him!

"Never defeated him. Never fought against him. Regardless of that, though… here I come, Giichi…!"

Inpei immediately jumps at me with a few punches and kicks, as well as creating quite a few blades from the shadows, and the dog comes to bite me.

That's quite a lot.

Luckily, though, I managed to survive all of that. I dodged or blocked Inpei's punches and kicks, and, well, some of the blades pierced through me, but at least the dog's teeth weren't that dangerous! …I think.

And here I thought Inpei wasn't as strong as Spiegelung…

I breathe quite heavily, after such a short skirmish. It's not like me to be so tired after just this much. He is as strong as Spiegelung. However, what still terrifies me is the fact that Caduto is even stronger…!

"For crying out loud, if you are so strong, then how strong is Caduto?"

"Strong enough to defeat the Monster of Hyoudou, I hope!"

I continue to fight with Inpei, unable to take any notice of what is going on between the other two fighting—Yi Cheng and Caduto. I just hope Yi Cheng won't lose…!

I punch Inpei, and he doesn't dodge. Instantly, a blade comes from the shadow, ready to pierce me, but I swiftly evade. The dog bites me, though, and I don't manage to avoid that. Thankfully, his teeth aren't all so tough. We both take distance from one another, and then Inpei speaks.

"Giichi, I think I've warned you earlier today of something. If you do not let me do the same now, the same warning will be directed towards you, Giichi!"

Inpei kicks me, and instead of dodging it, I punch him in the face, and with my other hand, I take one of the swords he stabbed me with, and throw it at him.

"Hah… Hah… Hah… I'm not going to give in to that threat now… Inpei…! I'm not the only one here at the moment. Yi Cheng is here, Seiichi is here, and Albert is here. I can just have Seiichi and Albert fight Spiegelung. If they cannot defeat him, even with their combined forces, then they'll just fight him with the guards helping them!"

Inpei seems to realize his threats to be futile. Even if Spiegelung will come, it will still be tough for them to retrieve Richter and Unheil, even then. That means he has to make one of two choices: fight or flight.

"My mission today is: retrieve Richter Belmont and Unheil Drachen, at all costs! Master gave that mission me. At all costs, that means my life aren't too pricey. If they turn out to be the payment, then I'll just have to pay the bill!"

Something about his apparent passion towards completing the tasks his master gives him, the precedence his master's orders take over his own life… combining that with his lifelessness, and none of that adds up!

…Something is definitely off! His master has to have pulled off something on him, he must have done something, to make him like this! …Nevertheless, right now, fighting him takes priority.

"Inpei… your master sure gave you orders that are hard to pull off, huh?"

"I'm somewhat confident that Caduto and I can pull it off."

"It might be better if you won't underestimate Yi Cheng."

Inpei makes a perplexed expression.

"I am not underestimating the Monster of Hyoudou. While I was fighting you, I took a bit of glances over there, and I was awe-stroke. His power is magnificent. However, I'd say that Caduto has chance to win against him. He's stronger than me, stronger than Spiegelung, after all."

I let out a small laugh.

"What's that for?"

"Ah, no, it's nothing. It's just, that, you see…"

Caduto is stronger than Inpei and Spiegelung, individually. Both of them are terrifying on their own right. Caduto is rather horrifying, revealed stronger than each of them is, however…

"Caduto is stronger than both you and Spiegelung, individually, according to you. That is a great feat. It genuinely terrifies me to hear that."

"Then how are you still so confident…?"

"—Nevertheless! If there's anyone who I can trust to be even more terrifying than all of you… it has to be Yi Cheng. He's not my [Queen] for nothing, nor is he a Mutation Piece for no reason, you know…!"

As I finish speaking, I punch Inpei, and kick his dog. Meanwhile, I also clench my other fist, and throw it upon Inpei's counter-attacking punch!

—!

"Those movements… Giichi, you are almost completely different!"

"Well, since Yi Cheng probably already took care of that Caduto guy, I figured I might as well get more serious."

"…More… serious…?"

Inpei's face shows his understanding of the situation. Surely, he is about my level, more likely than not. However, I wasn't quite going all out. Well, most definitely, he could pull off something more major than this.

—Nonetheless, there is a certain risk in it. The same risk I avoid myself by trying my best to never use my full power!

"I didn't get Master's permission to use my full power here, Giichi. Had I gotten it, I'd not waste my time playing with you."

"I get it. …I also do not want to take such a huge risk. And to counter attack your full power, for all I know, I might have to use my own full power."

I continue speaking.

"That's something I'd like to avoid as much as I can."

"Hmpf!"

"So… are you going to fight, or will you run?"

Then, Inpei sees something that makes him decide.

"Yes, Giichi. Master gave me permission!"

"That's exactly what I wanted to… not hear!"

This won't end well. No way in hell this will end anyhow well.

"That's not my problem…!"

Then, Inpei starts chanting…

—I shall resonate for the unlawful death of a thousand souls…

Inpei and the black dog were enshrouded in a jet-black haze. It then spreads, and covers everything in the surrounding area. I feel it covering me, too!

—I applause the massacre of ten thousand sequences of hostile forecasts.

Inpei and his dog seemingly melt into the darkness, turning into something… with an odd character.

—My title has been spread all the way through the hindmost gorge, it will grow into that of the false spirit of the glacial night and midnight sun.

The dog that accompanied Inpei dissolves into the darkness surrounding them, starting with his feet.

—Thou, shalt become my fiend edge of dark that thrashes all!

Inpei's entire body is completely covered in darkness. His figure was nothing like his previous one, differing too much to stay recognizable. The head and face morph into something that resembles a dog. The darkness continues to converge around Inpei's body. It forms forelegs, hind legs, a tail, and it opens its massive jaws. The gathering of darkness in the surrounding area forms figures one by one. Appearing everywhere around Inpei, are large packs of weird dogs with dark fur.

—To come to be rather untruthful, the inventor of the uncanny.

After Inpei recites the last line of the chant, the packs that have been born from darkness let out a disturbing and piercing howl, one that can shake anyone's mind and body, to its very core.

[Oooooooooooohhhh…!]

What appears there is, a humanoid monster clothed in gloom—. Assembled around him are giant creatures that resemble dogs, which breathe the darkness. Inpei is holding an extensive and sharp scythe, which has prolonged out from under his feet. Swinging the hack, he looks as if he is picking the passions out of the bodily, while the pack of dogs look like advocates of Abyss.

"Looks like this isn't going to end well…!"

I prepare myself for the worst, knowing that even in the face of such great power, I can't allow myself to show my own.

SWOOSH!

Inpei wastes no time, and comes at me, swinging the hack like crazy. I dodge. I dodge again, and again, as much as I can. However, this Inpei is much stronger and faster than the one I easily dodged and threw off. This one can do the same to me. Our positions might as well have flipped over.

"You talked about my movements becoming different when I became more serious, but look at you, Inpei… the difference in strength is earth and heavens. Nevertheless, I still can't afford to use my full strength. I'll have to manage to deal with your power, while maintaining only this much power!"

I said such big words, but actually, if no one will come at my help, things are going to be bad. The whole situation is mostly at Inpei's advantage. I… I can barely do anything right now.

Then, Inpei swings his hack at me, this time successfully damaging me. Oh, this surely hit me. This definitely hurts. That one hit didn't feel like it should have, not at all! I fall on the floor.

I feel like I'm going to lose. This feeling… I haven't had it for a while now. Spiegelung never turned to using all of his power. And if Inpei is as strong as me… that likely still isn't exactly his full power. I do not know what holds him back from using those things that resemble dogs, but he doesn't use them. That's a proof of him still holding back. I do not know how much he's holding back, but he's definitely holding back. Regardless, if I won't think up anything to do against it… I will just waste my time here!

Then, Inpei starts speaking to me.

{You asked me whether I'll fight against you, or run away, didn't you, Giichi? Now, the tables have turned over. I should now ask you the same question, Giichi. Fight, or run away? Which are you going to choose, Giichi?}

If I run away, an incredible danger might come to the Hyoudou Clan. Not only that, Yi Cheng, Seiichi, and Albert… they might all be in danger. While that alone is enough of a bad situation, it only gets worse. Inpei's master will succeed in retrieving Richter and Unheil, while the only clue I have to him will stay vague. If I run away, these are only a few minuses I have to count when making up my mind.

However, if I will instead fight, all of these dangers and bad things will be nonexistent, none of this will happen. The best thing about it, is that if I win, I might even get either my clue being more definite, or perhaps getting an even better clue towards the identity of Inpei's master. Nevertheless, there's one danger I am not counting. The danger to my own life. Inpei right now is really strong. He's a monster. Can I defeat him like this? I do not quite have such a confidence, to be completely honest. While I'd like to say I can work my way through this somehow, I see no light at the end of the cave. This situation is filled with despair, I guess.

I run away, and everything I've done up until now will be in vain. I fight, and everything I've done to avoid this risk might be redundant. Not to mention, the risk of everything I've done up until now being in vain—still remains.

I get up, my clothes are somewhat torn apart. I am bleeding. I breathe heavily. I feel an incredible pain, and can barely move.

"I… I will…"

I grit my teeth and clench my fist. I hold my face with my other palm, and advance with my right leg, putting it forward.

I then continue speaking, feeling like I cannot do it.

"I will… fight! —More specifically, I will win!"

I look at the creature in front of me, that is, Inpei. I look at him with eyes filled with nothing but determination.

{Then show me how you do it, Giichi…!}

Inpei rushes towards me with his hack, swinging it around, hitting me quite a few times, while missing a couple of times. Each time he hits me, I feel an incredible pain, perhaps beyond what I can hope to describe.

However—!

BOOM!

I punch Inpei as hard as I could, throwing him off at the wall. He gets out of it as though nothing at all has happened.

{Giichi, maybe, instead of your punches, try something else, will you? Something like, I don't know… perhaps… you know… —.}

Those last words worried me even more than I have been worried. However, with that, my clue towards Inpei's master has been confirmed.

"Before I will try something else, maybe you try to hit me better, try to hurt me! Will you?! Huh?!"

I put a tough act like that, and move forward, feeling like I'm about to faint, every step I take forward.

"Inpei, come on! Try to hurt me! I don't feel anything from your stupid swings!"

Keeping his cold composure, Inpei doesn't move too much, and takes on a somewhat defensive stance.

Right now, my only hopes are as follows: either I manage to somehow, miraculously defeat Inpei like this, or someone comes to help me, preferably Yi Cheng.

Two simple hopes. The first one is the ideal one, though. And for that… I think I'll have to be slightly smarter than usual!

I think of any counter measure I can think of. Is there anything that is a huge weakness to Inpei? First and foremost, what assurance do I have that Inpei will go according to my plan, in the first place…?!

If I want to poke at his weakness, shouldn't I first know what race he belongs to? But I don't know even that! Is he Human? Devil? Angel? Fallen Angel? Dragon? Or is he a Vampire? For all I know, he might also be some sort of a hybrid!

It's not good. I've got nothing. Nothing! The more I think about it, the more I realize how grim my situation is!

—However, I must still defeat him. It doesn't matter what I have, just like it doesn't matter what I do not have. I have to defeat him, and that's completely filling my mind right now. I can't think of anything else.

I then come at Inpei with my most incredible speed, and luckily, even as fast as he is right now, he couldn't react to this speed. Then, before he manages to do anything, right away, I punch and kick him multiple times, then catch him, and throw him as far as I can. For right now, I need more time to think.

"Hungh—!"

No… I can't drag this one for any longer. This fight has to settle, and quickly. I already start spitting blood. I must heal myself, quickly. Nevertheless, in order to heal myself, I will have to first win this battle. Only then, will I be able to get myself healed.

—!

While I was caught up thinking, Inpei got up and hit me with his hack. He then punches me, but I manage to somehow catch that punch. That strength… that speed… my best can only barely match that. I have to weaken him somehow.

SWOOSH!

Inpei swings his hack, and he manages to hit me, hurting me again. However, because of that, immediately, an idea pops into my head.

…That's right! I can take his hack! That should at least somewhat weaken him. If I will do that, I will have some sort of an easier win. Although, this fight won't be won easily, and I've got to know that yet again.

The pain slows me down, and Inpei is about to swing his hack, to deliver the finishing blow… or more appropriately, swing.

—I have to dodge that hack, but I can't. Then I have to catch that hack, but my hands are too slow. I would have to kick the hack, but what would that help me with? I can't use my speed, nor can I use my hands or legs.

Then that means…

—I just have to use my mouth, then!

"Aaaaagghhhh!"

I scream as Inpei swings his hack, and fortunately enough for me, I somehow manage to actually pull that off. I manage to catch the hack with my mouth, with me teeth. I can now change this fight slightly in my favor!

Immediately, I take momentum, and take all of the hack out of Inpei's hands, and throw it somewhere far off.

{Magnificent! I never thought you'd actually manage to do something in this state! To think that even like that, you can still do something… Giichi, you are, indeed, definitely, incredible! —However, your luck ends here!}

Losing his hack, Inpei starts using his fists.

"Now _THAT_ … is what _I_ call a real _**FIGHT**_ , Inpei!"

Now that we are to fight hand to hand, I might have the upper hand, in some form. After all, close quarters combat is my expertise!

We both shout at each other, rather loudly, throwing punches at each other, kicking at each other, head-bumping at each other, taking distance from each other, along with some other things.

We both take distance from each other, taking a short break, being out of breath.

{Impressive, Giichi!}

"I could say the same to you, Inpei."

We look at each other for a couple of seconds, and then immediately resume the fight, with me taking the lead, throwing a few punches at Inpei who is still slightly slower than my fastest speed.

That's it! Speed! I didn't think this would be my strategy. …No, this isn't a strategy, it's just some random luck. Luckily, I turned out to be slightly faster than him. That's all there is to it.

"—Inpei, look at yourself. You're all bruised!"

{I think you should take a look at the mirror yourself, Giichi.}

We let out a small, short-lived laugh. Then, we spend the few next seconds just staring at each other, planning, whilst waiting for the other one to make his move, just to be prepared with a counter attack.

A few moments of awkward, deadly silence, pass, silently and obnoxiously.

—Then, Inpei cannot wait any longer, and throws a punch on me. That's fortunate. I was just about to break my patience myself. However, with Inpei being the one going first, plus my speed being slightly above, I can try to take this chance and win this fight already! This has been going on for slightly too long.

I take this opportunity, and run towards Inpei's back, so quickly that it seems as though I disappeared and reappeared. Although, it definitely took a toll on me, especially with my injuries taken into consideration.

Regardless, this is it. I finally can end this fight.

I kick Inpei from the back, causing him to fall. I take that chance to immediately jump and throw quite a few heavy punches on him.

Then, Inpei tries to throw a punch, back at me, but I immediately take distance from him. I have a great plan to finish this fight.

"Inpei, this is it. With this next hit, I will win this fight."

{Interesting. Then how about this? I shall win this fight with the hit after this next one, Giichi. What do you think?}

"Intriguing, however, I cannot afford to get intrigued by every little action of yours, Inpei. This fight needs to end already."

…Inpei then comes at me with a punch. A rather powerful one. My plan is to catch that punch, not with a fist, but with my palm, to hold it in place.

The reason for that is—

"Skin Ripper!"

—this, basically.

—! Skin Ripper doesn't work?! What's going on…?!

Then, Inpei continues with momentum and hits me in the face with his powerful punch, which hits me quite hard. I take some distance from him, and take a defensive stance.

{Hmm… from what Master told me, it seems like you need to touch your opponent's skin, with a direct touch, to use Skin Ripper on him or her. With that in mind, I have an explanation for why it didn't work.}

I ask him for the explanation, while breathing heavily.

"What… is it?"

…This isn't good. If Yi Cheng won't finish his own fight soon enough and come to help me, I might lose this fight. …It's no good…! I guess I'll have to finish this on my own, but it will mean I'll have to finish this fight instantly…!

{Right now, I'm enveloped in darkness. You did _NOT_ directly touch me skin, contrarily to what you might have thought.}

Hmm… actually, if I can stall him like that, I might be able to get some help before he will kill me. That's right, I just have to stall him…

Then, I speak, in order to converse with Inpei… to stall him.

"Are you sure about that?"

{No, not really. It's just what Master said, and even Master can be wrong at times, so it is possible and plausible for him to be wrong.}

…So does this mean that… this "Master"… isn't some sort of an omnipotent being, or what? Huh, that really makes things easier for me, since it means I can catch that guy off guard. Nevertheless, to gather such a crew… this "Master" isn't someone weak, or anyhow stupid.

No, I have no time to analyze this deeply. I have to keep stalling Inpei. I can think in between our chatter!

Then, I speak. Or rather, ask.

"So your master isn't impossible to defeat, is he?"

Then, continuing to think…

He knows what he's doing, who is up against, and what he has with him to fight against it. And most importantly… he is probably even stronger than all of his crew, even if individually.

…That means he is likely even stronger than Caduto here… who is even stronger than this Inpei here, who, at full power, is somewhere about equal to me.

Then, Inpei answers my question.

{I'd say it's not possible for you to defeat him, Giichi.}

So that's what he says?

Indeed, this "Master" might just be leagues above me. It might be impossible for me to defeat him, especially with me avoiding any usage of my full power.

Nonetheless, he isn't the only one who knows what he's doing. I've gathered talented and monstrously strong people under my command… exactly because I knew I was up against something I possibly cannot defeat.

Then, I continue stalling Inpei, while waiting for help to come.

"Hah, I've heard that quite a few times already, Inpei. Tell me something new… tell me something I don't know, will you?"

{That would relate to betraying Master, so no.}

"Well, I am pretty sure that speaking with me so openly like that… letting me know a thing or two, alone, would relate to betraying your master… Inpei."

Then, Inpei spouts something unexpected. …Or perhaps, I should have expected him to say it, to realize it.

{Okay then… now stop stalling me. I do not have all the time in the world, you know.}

…So he realized I was stalling, huh? Well, I guess I will just have to take him head on now. Although I am already too worn out for it.

I go towards Inpei, ready to throw a punch at him, and after that, I realize something.

Why did he let me stall, if he knew I was stalling? …Could it be that he also stalled?

Then, Inpei punches me, and I dodge. He punches me again, and I dodge again, but he then kicks me, and I am completely vulnerable to his attacks now.

Inpei then punches me quite a few times, and I evade only a couple of them. I'm in a really bad shape now. I'm hurt quite badly, I bleed, I breath heavily, and my senses may or may not start to fade.

—No, the pain doesn't matter! More importantly, if he was stalling, then it has two possible meanings. He either expected Caduto to win against Yi Cheng, or he expected his master to send someone, both of which could be reasoned with him being in just as a bad shape as I am in. However, it doesn't make any sense.

Why would he be in a bad shape? I don't get it. I didn't damage him nearly as much as he damaged me, so there's no reason for him to be hurt as badly as I am! Then why…?

We continue to fight for a while, and I decide to do something about this situation. Inpei is hurt as badly as me. …Probably. Nonetheless, I cannot use Skin Ripper right now. I can use my Dragon Flames, however!

Then, Inpei throws a fist at me. I catch Inpei's fist, and throw it off.

"Take this!"

I then open my mouth widely, and…

"Flame… Incandescence!"

I announce the name of my Dragon Flame attack, breathing upon Inpei lots of fire. With this, he should at least feel something. Especially with how badly he is hurt.

Inpei gets damaged even more than before. Now getting slightly desperate, Inpei uses those dog-like monsters. He orders them to fetch him his hack, as well as attack me.

This isn't good! I'm quite in a pinch!

—Then, just as I think this can't get any worse, an arrow comes towards Inpei. Not noticing it in time, Inpei doesn't manage to dodge it, and gets hit.

Both Inpei and I are baffled. Yi Cheng is fighting Caduto. Both are too busy to support any of us. And while Seiichi has some skills in archery, he doesn't really like using bow, and prefers using guns, so it couldn't be him.

Judging by how it actually damaged Inpei more than a normal arrow would, I have one man in mind, who could pull off such a thing.

Then, as I am thinking about a certain person, someone else comes into the building, and breaks the window he comes from. From the angle, he must have jumped quite high and then maneuvered himself over here.

That man… is an extremely tall, exceedingly muscular man that has a lion-like figure, and looks like he is in his early thirties. He sports a mane-like black hair, and has divine-looking golden eyes. He is Heracles—my one and only [Rook].

Upon seeing Heracles, Inpei immediately takes distance and goes on a more defensive stance. Meanwhile, as he commands his dog-like monsters to come back to him, some get instantly killed by Heracles.

"I'm really happy to get help. I was about to die. …I think. Anyway, did you shoot that arrow? Or was it…?"

Heracles shrugs and answers my question.

"As much as I am a nice person, you know very well who is the one that unnecessarily sticks his nose into any matter."

"Chiron, huh?"

"Yup."

"Well, I thought it was him. Anyways, as you already noticed, I am fighting a certain someone. You might not know him. He is Inpei. …He is as strong as I am."

"That's definitely quite terrifying, Giichi. However, with Chiron and I backing you up, this should be nothing. I mean, Chiron alone would be enough to support you, but he called me, too, so here I am."

As I am about to reply, quite a few blades come at Heracles and I, from the shadows. I dodge, and Heracles takes them head-on.

Inpei isn't intending to drag this fight for too long. He understood earlier that Caduto is too busy to help him, and Spiegelung isn't coming for his help anytime soon. Meanwhile, I now have Heracles with me. Not to mention, Chiron is supporting me, too. Even if I am in such a bad shape, as of right now, I cannot lose this fight.

Inpei comes at me with his hack, and swings it a few times. His dog-like monsters move around quite a lot, too. However, Heracles takes out his huge club, and once he swings it against those dog-like monsters, they instantly vanish.

Then, Heracles comes to help me against Inpei. He swings his club against Inpei's hack, and punches him in the face. Afterwards, Chiron shoots a few arrows at him. Finishing him off, I breathe fire at him again.

Inpei, unable to sustain all that damage, reverts, back to normal. The dog-like monsters vanish, and the dog that accompanied Inpei is now with him again.

"I did not expect your servants to come, Giichi. Not to mention, they are absurdly strong, too. Heracles, Chiron… Giichi, is your peerage made exclusively of legendary heroes, or what?"

I stand, breathing heavily, on the verge of collapsing any moment. Inpei is at the same state as I am.

Then, Inpei immediately retreats backwards, towards Caduto.

"Inpei, we are now to return."

Floating at a certain distance away from Yi Cheng, Caduto shows his ten Fallen Angel wings, without any hesitation, whatsoever.

Ten… Fallen Angel… wings…? That's crazy! So that's why Inpei has such a high trust regarding him…

However, even so, Caduto is bleeding heavily, and seems to be perhaps missing a hand or a leg, conceivably just a portion of a hand or a leg. Regardless, six of his wings are damaged, torn apart.

Yi Cheng is also quite damaged. Although, not anything like Caduto. Nevertheless, he also took out his Devil wings and his Dragon wings. He might have used them for some defensive purpose.

To think Caduto made him go that far…

"Return? Are you sure? Didn't Master order us to retrieve the Vampire, Richter Belmont, and the Dragon-Human Hybrid, Unheil Drachen, at any cost? Are you completely sure that Master's orders are for us to return, Caduto?"

"Yes, I am completely sure. Regarding the Vampire—Richter Belmont—and the Dragon-Human Hybrid—Unheil Drachen, I have had already took them, so falter not, Inpei. Let's go back already."

Inpei then immediately goes towards Caduto, who, while holding Richter and Unheil, is getting closer and closer to the window. Inpei's dog is following him.

Then, a cloud is being made near Caduto, serving as some sort of a smoke screen.

Wait a moment… a cloud?! It can't be…!

"Giichi…"

"Let them go, Yi Cheng. The clue I've talked to you about… it's definitive now."

"Then…"

"Yes, Yi Cheng. Your targets of investigation are people of the Hyoudou Clan."

"Understood, Giichi."

…This battle has been one of my toughest battles ever. It started in a rough manner; it was also in my favor, at the beginning. Nevertheless, Inpei turned the tables with his chant, which was presumably, perhaps an Abyss Side.

Nonetheless, I still managed to win that fight, in the end. —No, I can't really call that a win. If I need Heracles and Chiron's help, then it is not my win. Nevertheless, I did gather these people in preparation for things like this.

More importantly, I now understand where Inpei's trust towards Caduto comes from. If that cloud is what I think it is… then Caduto… he… he might just be the current user of Zenith Tempest.

Spiegelung, my destined rival and a descendant of Lucifer. Inpei—the mysterious current user of Canis Lykaon. And Caduto… the absurdly strong Fallen Angel that might just be the current user of Zenith Tempest.

To think such people have gathered under the command of a single man… he, Inpei's master, is definitely a powerful opponent.

* * *

Oh, well, hi, hello there. It's me again. This chapter is pretty much my favorite as of right now, so I hope you will enjoy this, too. This chapter might have gotten so long due to the numerous changes it went through.

Initially, I intended on this chapter being solely a meeting of the Hyoudou Clan. However, once I started writing it, I realized that there wasn't enough talk to be in the meeting, to make a full chapter. So, instead, I made it _start_ with a meeting of the Hyoudou Clan, but then switch to an interrogation of Richter Belmont and Unheil Drachen, which would reveal some important details. Then, the chapter would go to its best part, a fight scene with Inpei!

I was really excited to write his fight scene! [Although, I am feeling bad for not having written Caduto's fight scene. ...But, well, it might have been better this way.] Also, as you may have guessed, Inpei's fight scene also got changed. At first, I wrote it up until the Skin Ripper attempt, which I forgot shouldn't work on Inpei at that state. So thank you, demonicjester01, for being such a good beta/alpha reader!

...So the thing is, I sent him the full chapter, and he pointed out at me that since Inpei is covered with darkness, maybe he shouldn't be affected. Well, first, he asked me if there Skin Ripper requires directly touching the opponent's skin. And I thought it would make sense for it to be that way, so I went with that. And so he told me that since Inpei is covered with darkness, he shouldn't be affected. And then I changed the fight scene.

But then there was another problem. If Inpei won't be affected by Giichi's Skin Ripper, then how will Giichi win? Giichi himself shouldn't know any means to do that. He barely knows who Inpei is, so he doesn't know any weakness of his. And then I remembered a certain character, who I didn't properly introduce in chapter 2, which might have been weird for some of you. That's right, I am talking about Chiron. Chiron usually sticks his nose into other people's business. That's his personality. So I decided it will be a good opportunity to properly introduce him, and perhaps Heracles, alongside it. And that's what I did.

So, as of right now, if you have noticed, there are only two servants who haven't been introduced yet. Kiyohime, who was mentioned, but didn't get any screen-time yet. To be honest, I feel like I should make a chapter about Giichi persuading her and Sakurako (an event that was mentioned briefly), but what do you think? Should I write such a chapter? It will be chapter 3.5, I think. Your call. ...I got side-tracked.

Anyway!

So, aside from Kiyohime, there's one [Pawn] who wasn't even mentioned. He will be mentioned next chapter. Also, in the next chapter, Kiyohime will be introduced! Yay!

Also, did you get the hints that I sprinkled around in this chapter? I mean, I sprinkle some hints in pretty much every chapter, but this chapter had some strong hints, which I kind of fear will make things obvious. ...But then again, I think that way about any hint I sprinkle through this fanfic. So maybe I don't have to worry. ...I don't know.

Wow... I have much more to talk about than I expected.

Well, that's about it, for now. As all of you know, I will go on an undefined [as of right now] hiatus, which will range anywhere between six months to two years. Next chapter, I will decide on a definite length for the hiatus, but as of right now, I still don't really know.

...Regardless!

Thanks you so much for reading! Look forward to next chapter. And please leave some reviews, as I usually ask. You know, what you liked and what you hated, all that sort of stuff; building criticism. ...Or just your opinion, it is also accepted. Well then, see you around next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6: A Significant Encounter

**Chapter 6: A Significant Encounter**

* * *

After Caduto and Inpei ran off with Richter and Unheil, I almost collapsed. After all, I got almost killed. I could barely keep myself conscious for quite a lot of the fight. Well, anyway, after I got myself healed by Yi Cheng, I felt like new.

Then, Chiron, my [Knight], came in, and, well, he had some alone time with Heracles, lecturing him about breaking windows and property. Typical of him. Afterwards, once Chiron finished lecturing to Heracles, he told me about Kiyo's arrival.

"—Anchin-sama! I was SO worried about you!"

The one who just spoke before immediately jumping at me… is a slim white girl with two black horns near her ears, seeming to be in her early-twenties, who wears formal black dress. She is holding a black-red fan that seems as though it was ablaze, while having a few more decorations.

She has long and smooth white hair, and light red eyes that resemble a fire. She is… a [Bishop] of mine. The other one is Sakurako, who consumed a Mutation Piece.

"Don't worry, Kiyo, I'm okay. And like I already told you many times before, my name is _not_ Anchin, it's Giichi."

Well, I just hope she won't find out how badly I got hurt. I mean, even with Yi Cheng's superb healing skills, there are some evidences to me being hurt.

…As well as witnesses to me getting hurt.

Then, Kiyo asks a question I hoped she wouldn't ask.

"Yi Cheng, how badly did Anchin-sama get hurt?"

She didn't even think I perhaps haven't got hurt? Hah… she's such a worry-rat. Although, she is right about me having had gotten hurt. …This won't end well.

Then, Yi Cheng answers Kiyo's question, heavily detailing everything about my state before he healed me.

"He was heavily breathing, and could barely stand. As you can see, his clothes are torn apart, and he was bleeding quite a lot from his chest. It was a hassle to heal such a huge wound, really. —Ah, and his limbs were extremely hurt."

The moment Yi Cheng finishes speaking, Kiyo immediately starts caressing my chest to see if I got properly healed.

She looks at me with a sad look in her eyes, as though she is about to burst and cry.

"Anchin-sama…"

"I'm alright, Kiyo. I'm alright."

…Really, she's such a worry-rat.

I pat her head gently, as she lowers her head and slowly lies on my chest.

"—Lovey-dovey."

"Oh, shut up, Albert."

Then, I see something that… I guess I should have expected it.

"You lazy, good for nothing guards!"

Seiichi is angry with the guards again. The reason for his anger is that they didn't guard against Inpei and Caduto. However, I don't think they could have, even if they wanted and tried. Instead, I think it was for the better that they didn't fight against them just to end up dying. It would have not but negative effects on us.

I then stop caressing Kiyo's hair, and get up try to calm Seiichi down.

"Seiichi, stop it. It was for the better."

"For the better, you say?! How so? …Is having the Head of the Hyoudou Clan for the better, you say?!"

"Not that. They would have died instantly against Inpei and Caduto. Inpei was about to defeat me. So just try and think how well the guards would fair against them."

"That's…"

Seiichi realizes that the guards couldn't have done anything, regardless of whether they had tried or not. Nevertheless, he still tries to defend his point, that the guards should've at least done something.

"It doesn't matter! They are guards! Their job is only to protect this headquarter, nothing else! If they die on their duty, then so be it. If not, then they can continue guarding this place. That's all there is to it!"

"Is that so, Seiichi? You think that if the guards die, it would mean nothing to us? Did you really think that we have no responsibility over them?"

Then, Seiichi replies with a quite stupid reply, so to say.

"Yes, that's right! If the guards die, it would mean nothing to us! What responsibility do we have over them?! Their job is to guard. That's what they should have done! Dying while guarding isn't unexpected!"

"If we don't bury them, then who will do it?"

"We will bury them! What's the problem with that?"

"Even if we do bury them, what will you do about the lack of guards?"

"We can just recruit new guards, obviously!"

"Recruiting new guards even though we could have avoided it? You should know very well how tough are standards are, Seiichi."

Seiichi has nothing to say to my statements, yet still tries his best to defend his point.

"That's…"

I then continue speaking.

"If you still don't see how it would be problematic if they had just died for nothing, then you aren't fit to be a leader, Seiichi."

Seiichi says nothing, but it is clear that he would get angry by me saying this. However, what I say after it is even more annoying for him.

"That's exactly why I am the Head of the Hyoudou Clan, and not you."

Seiichi gets even more annoyed; nevertheless, I still continue speaking.

"Stop thinking only of the Head of the Hyoudou Clan, Seiichi. Try looking at the bigger picture once in a while, will you, Seiichi?"

Then, Yi Cheng stops me from going any further.

"I think that's enough already, Giichi."

"I guess I slightly overdid it. Nonetheless, I have to do at least this much. If not, it won't be problematic just for me. Instead, it would be problematic for all of us. …Especially for Seiichi. It will be the most problematic for him."

Then, Chiron reassures me that there will be no troubles, or at least nothing remarkable, with a single… promise, so to say.

"If that's how it is, Giichi, then you could have just told me. I will make sure Seiichi'll understand it. I quite miss teaching, after all."

A teacher, huh…? I quite miss my teacher.

"…I see. Then I guess I can leave it to you, Chiron. I know I can trust you. After all, I don't think Yi Cheng could have turned into who he is right now without your teaching, as well as Heracles. Your teaching won't do any bad."

Chiron humbly brushes off my statements.

"I'm flattered."

"No, really. I actually quite envy Seiichi for getting you to teach him. Well, that's not to say my teacher was bad. He was…"

Chiron understands the meaning behind my words, and says nothing. As I make a sad face, Kiyo, who also understood the meaning behind my words, came from behind and hugged me, immediately.

Then, she speaks with a sad tone.

"I don't like it when Anchin-sama is sad…"

Kiyo hugs me tightly, whilst making a sad expression.

That's right, Kiyo knows how it feels to lose someone… Did she start loving me because we share the feeling of losing our beloved ones? Regardless of her reason to love me, I appreciate her care for me.

I can't dwell about the past. …Not just yet. Right now, I need to act normally, and cheer up. At least, for now.

Then, I thank Kiyo for cheering me up.

"Thank you, Kiyo. Your hug really helped me cheer up."

Kiyo instantly blushes and stops hugging me, afterwards fidgeting cutely, confused and flustered by my words.

"H-H-Hugging you… I can always hug you if you need me to."

"I'll take up on your word, then, Kiyo. Hug me when I need a hug, will you? To be fair, in exchange, I will also hug you when you need a hug."

Kiyo then blushes even more, and covers her face in embarrassment.

"T-T-T-T-T-Then I… I'll take you up on your word, too…!"

Then, Heracles embarrasses me, unexpectedly.

"You two should kiss!"

Wha—?! You jerk! Interrupting people like that… it's rude!

"Hey, it's really not well-mannered to interrupt a couple, you know."

Chiron, not you, too!

"Yes, Heracles. Professor's words are the most correct ones. Albert already interrupted Giichi and Kiyohime once, so you shouldn't interrupt them, Heracles. They need their own alone time, you know."

Yi Cheng, I thought I could trust you!

"W-W-Wel-Well… I-I am n-n-n-n-not really a-aga-agains-against it… if Anchin-sama doesn't mind it, then I'm… o-o-okay w-wi-with it…"

After saying that, Kiyo immediately hides behind me while being embarrassed.

Yeah, now you've just made things awkward, Heracles. Thank you very much for it. I'll give you a good, long, boring lecture about manners. Just wait.

Well, leaving Kiyo hanging like that is really out of the question. It will make it seem as though I am against it. …And if it's not obvious enough, I am _NOT_ against it.

Kiyo is rather cute, and curves where she needs to curve, so her looks are a pass. And if you ask about her personality, it's already quite obvious that she gets a pass.

Then, I reply to Kiyo positively.

"I'm completely okay with it. You are a fine woman, Kiyo. Well, regardless, doing it in front of these people is something I won't even bother to even think about even thinking about even considering even giving it a thought!"

"That's a lot of evens, Giichi."

"Oh, shut up, Heracles."

Then, Heracles lets out a small laugh, followed by a giggle from Chiron, afterwards by a laugh from Yi Cheng, then followed by Seiichi bursting out in laughter. Albert stays quiet, though. And Kiyo… well, she is behind me, blushing and getting embarrassed, whilst I am also getting flustered.

Then, Chiron makes the situation even more awkward by saying the following.

"Okay, now let's give the two some alone time."

…A rather long, awkward period of time then passes.

"Well then, I guess… I might as well go back home already…"

Right after I say that, Kiyo holds my shirt from behind.

"I… let me accompany you."

As I accept and turn around, I see Kiyo placing her palms over her cheeks, with a smile, a big smile, on her face.

…Cute. That's all I have to say. I have no words to describe this cuteness.

The moment I see such a delightful Kiyo doing that cute gesture, I instantaneously blush, understanding that this cute girl will be coming with me to my house.

—No, no, no! She's my servant! A [Bishop] of mine! Of course she will be together with me! …I think it's a given. Regardless, she's still really cute.

Once I left, Chiron told me that he and Heracles should accompany me, considering I'm being targeted quite often, and even more so recently. However, I turned him down on his offer, and told him that Kiyo is accompanying me, and regardless, I can still fight on my own.

…Even though I am not in the mood, or the shape, to fight, now. Not after almost being killed by Inpei today. …Anyway!

* * *

So, after that, Yi Cheng understood I would turn him down, as well. …I was made fun of, since they thought I just wanted to have some alone time with Kiyo.

…Which they might have been surprisingly correct about. —But they might've been wrong, just as well!

 _Ahem!_ Disregarding that…

I am amidst the path towards my home, alongside Kiyo, who… isn't holding hands with me. Instead, she hugs my arm, pressing her breasts on it.

…Which may or may not feel really good for me, perhaps arousing me, too. But putting that aside…

In the midst of walking, halfway through, we encounter someone very special.

Someone who is muscular, and is of an average height figure. A male figure, who seems to be in his mid-thirties or so, the man has a charming silver hair, and alluring golden eyes. He wears some sort of protection, some armor.

Indeed, that man… that special certain someone… he is none other than my long-time rival, the very dangerous terrorist—Spiegelung Lucifer.

"I've waited for you here, Giichi."

The moment Spiegelung says that, Kiyo holds tight to me.

There are two ways to interpret her action: either she felt terror from Spiegelung's sheer power, or perhaps, she might have feared for my safety.

Regardless of which it is, I can't involve Kiyo in this matter. I mean, I can involve her in this matter, but I'd like to avoid Spiegelung from clashing with her.

While she is quite strong, she is still not as strong as Spiegelung. Losing her is not an option. …I'll have to settle this diplomatically, I guess.

"What is it, Spiegelung?"

"I just want to have a little chat with you, Giichi. That's all there is to it."

A little chat with me? Spiegelung? Something's fishy. For all I know, it could very well be an order from his master.

Then, I speak.

"You must be quite bored to wait for me just to chat with me."

Spiegelung lets out a small laughter and then speaks.

"Ah, no, you see, I thought that by now, you'd finish off Caduto."

"Are you saying that _knowing_ that I cannot defeat him?"

Spiegelung makes a slightly surprised expression.

…Did he think Caduto was weaker than me? Does that mean he was constantly fighting me under the assumption that I was stronger than Caduto, who is stronger than him? Or did he also assume that he himself is stronger than Caduto, just as well? Either way, he definitely was under the wrong assumption.

"So you're telling me that you didn't defeat Caduto?"

Hmm… taking into consideration the fact that he is under the impression of Caduto was going to a suicide mission, and most likely didn't succeed, at best barely escaping… it might be better to not reveal to him about Caduto's success in his mission, something I assumed to be obvious, or, at least, known to him.

I can try to bluff, and hide this information from him.

"Well, I was about to bluff you about me being weaker than Caduto, but you somehow saw through me. I defeated Caduto singlehandedly. What about it?"

Kiyo is still holds to me tight, while also making a baffled expression upon my bluffs being said. This might result in Spiegelung realizing I am just bluffing. It's not going to be easy to fool him…

"Hmm… at first, you said you are weaker than Caduto, with a frustrated expression, however, you now said that it was a bluff, with a dishonest expression. I could also see a perplexed expression from this lady accompanying you, which could indicate that you were lying to me, and this lady didn't know how to handle it. So… did you lie, Giichi?"

…So he figured it out, huh? —No, I have to keep a straight face, and pull through this with my bluff getting through as an absolute truth. Being ambiguous could make it tougher for Spiegelung to distinguish truth from lies. My bullshit can make it through, if I know how to do it.

"Well, what can I say, Spiegelung? It really depends, you know. It could very well be a lie, as well as it could very well be the truth. The former, that is."

My tongue has gotten much sharper than I remember it. With such an ambiguous reply, which is on the verge of not making sense without deciphering it, Spiegelung will likely take one of two possible courses. He could either decipher it: which could result in him buying my lie or realizing I am lying… …Or… he would try to make me answer more clearly, so that he won't have to do such a hard work, so to say.

In both cases, the possibility of Spiegelung getting notice of my lies being bullshit… it exists. And that's problematic, because only in the first scenario does the possibility of Spiegelung buying my bluff exist.

Then, Spiegelung speaks.

"I thought I'm supposed to be the smartass guy here, Giichi. I intended to come here to chat a little with you, but if you behave like this, I'd possibly have to threat you, using this lady's life. I think you know what to do, Giichi."

…I thought so.

If I refuse, Kiyo will get killed by Spiegelung. However, if I will yield to his conditions, he would have an advantage over me. What should I decide? Which should I pick? Why should I pick Kiyo? Why not? Why? How? When? Where? …No, overthinking it will just make things worse. …So Kiyo? Or my advantage?

—What am I getting so flustered over? Kiyo is also an advantage. Losing Kiyo means I'll lose her, PLUS, I'll lose an advantage over Spiegelung and his master. The decision I should make is… obvious!

Regardless, bewildered with my own thoughts, in the end, Kiyo speaks before I express my decision.

"My life are the belonging of Anchin-sama! If I'm in the way, then I can kill myself! I will not let you have your way with Anchin-sama!"

The moment Kiyo finishes speaking, Spiegelung seems to have made his decision to kill her. But I interrupt it.

"— **NO**!"

The scream could likely be heard from quite afar away. Kiyo is confused by it, however, Spiegelung isn't.

"I won't let you kill Kiyo!"

I shouted at Spiegelung so, and Kiyo seems to be entranced by my strong will to defend her. Nevertheless, Spiegelung keeps his cold and collected attitude.

…He's onto something, isn't he? No, he _is_ onto something. I am _sure_ of it. That has to be the case. Nonetheless, be it the case or not, I won't let myself lose yet another beloved one. No, it won't go that way. Not anymore.

"I'll protect her!"

"—Isn't that what you said about your beloved ones before?"

—Where? …Where did he hear this? How… how does he know this? Could it be his master? The possibility exists.

Regardless, I have to protect Kiyo from Spiegelung. …If I fail, again, here, then how will I succeed later on?!

"…Did your master tell you that?"

"Possibly."

Spiegelung looks at me with a stony and calculative expression, as though I am dancing on his palm.

Spiegelung then continues speaking.

"Ah, that's right. Master told me that you grew some sort of overprotective nature over your girls, and perhaps even your close male friends, too. He told me how you came to develop this nature. Want to hear?"

"I am not interested in it."

Spiegelung makes a grin, and, whilst looking at how angry I am, he continues speaking.

"Well, anyway, so it goes like this: you tried to protect your friends all alone—."

"—I said I am not interested in hearing it!"

"And, so, well, unfortunately for you, they died. All of them. No matter how hard you tried to protect them, they always ended up dying—."

I then interrupt him again, while staying in place, so that Spiegelung won't lay a hand on Kiyo.

"—Like I said, I'm not interested in hearing it!"

I do not want to hear that tragedy anytime again. I do _NOT_ want to hear it.

Spiegelung looks at me emotionlessly for a moment, before afterwards continuing to tell that story.

"So, now, after protecting your friends by your own, and miserably failing to do so, you started to become overprotective, over time."

I have nothing to say. It is quite accurate. —However, it does not mean I will let that tragedy occur, ever again!

"What does the past matter to you, Spiegelung?"

"It matters not. I just wanted to intimidate the lady there, and perhaps terrify you a bit."

Well, it definitely worked. …Nevertheless, I have to protect Kiyo. Spiegelung is not quite easy to predict. I can't underestimate him.

"Anyway, Giichi… now that I've threatened you with Kiyo's life, which you know I can take, tell me the truth."

In a situation like this, it's almost weird for Chiron to not get a wind of this happening and immediately helping me out. However, this is for the better. Chiron couldn't have managed to both help me against Spiegelung _and_ protect Kiyo.

"I'm waiting, Giichi."

Whilst I was caught up thinking, Spiegelung came close to Kiyo, and is ready to take her life, any moment now. …I'll have to just listen to him for now.

"I'll tell you the truth, okay! I didn't even get to fight Caduto. Yi Cheng kept him in bay, while I was fighting against Inpei."

Spiegelung stays at the same place for a few seconds, and afterwards extends his arm towards Kiyo.

Why? I told him the truth. This should be enough!

I immediately catch his arm, and look at him with a menacing look in my eyes, while I ask him why he did that.

"What was that for? You asked for the truth, and I told you the truth. Go, Spiegelung. I yielded to your conditions, now it's your time to go off. Leave us alone."

"I still have more questions, Giichi. Relax. Let's take a seat, and take our time speaking, okay, Giichi?"

…He has the upper hand right now. I need to listen to him quietly whilst also planning on how to run away from him.

"Got it, Giichi?"

Hmm…? What's this? It's not quite like him to repeat himself. Oh, that's right! We are out in the open. It won't be strange for anyone to just see us here. And I mean, literally, _anyone_. Of course he'll get restless!

If I can stall for long enough, I will be able to get out of this situation! …Nevertheless, I don't think Spiegelung will let me stall. He'll immediately know I'm stalling. I might be unable to stall. —No, I still have to at least try.

If I am to stall, I guess I'll first ask where we'll go. …Yes, I'll go with that.

"Where are we to go to, though? Huh, Spiegelung?"

"—Falter not, Giichi. I already have a place in mind."

As I thought, he had an answer for this. …Might as well push this further with unneeded questions. After all, I am stalling.

"And where is that place, Spiegelung?"

Spiegelung starts walking after summoning a powerful Magic circle behind Kiyo. Then, he answers my question, as he walks and urges me to follow him.

"It's your own home, Giichi. Now follow me. You can't fool me with such a bad stalling, Giichi. Try better next time."

…Tsk! He _did_ know I was stalling. Thought so.

* * *

After a few more minutes, we reached our current goal, my home. Then, Spiegelung urged me to open the door, at the same time as he also makes sure to threaten me with taking Kiyo's life.

…So he was serious about speaking with me inside my own house.

We all sit down, and Spiegelung sits near Kiyo, to make sure he can kill her, if he wants to, at any moment, to threaten me.

"You were eerily quiet during our way here, weren't you, Spiegelung?"

I say that with my best poker face, which is quite bad. My anger is written all over my face, and Spiegelung is intending to use that anger of mine, against me.

Then, Spiegelung extends his hand towards Kiyo's nape, a rather vulnerable place for pretty much anyone, obviously enough including Kiyo.

"Giichi, don't mistake your position here. I am the one asking questions. Not you. Got it, Giichi? Understood?"

Yet again, he repeated himself. With an even shorter interval between the first time he said something and the second time he said it. Rather than getting a feeling of security, he seems to get only more distraught.

…I am not too sure why he is so distraught, however, if he is using anything against me, then I it's only fair for me to use anything against him.

"Okay, okay, Spiegelung. I understand. You're the one asking questions. I am only to answer your questions. I really do get it, so if you can, please get your hand away from Kiyo's nape. Also, cut to the chase."

Spiegelung then takes his hand away from Kiyo's nape, just as I asked him. Regardless, Kiyo is still in danger. Spiegelung can still kill her at will. However, this lets me act a little bit more freely.

Then, Spiegelung answers.

"You said you didn't fight Caduto, that Yi Cheng fought him instead. Yi Cheng would definitely be capable of giving a good fight to Caduto. No, Yi Cheng has a good chance of winning against him. So I can take that as the truth."

"I already told you it's the truth! Like I said, what do you want more?"

"Hmm… you said you fought Inpei, didn't you?"

Wait, now that I think about it… isn't Spiegelung getting calmer? This isn't good… that will only mean I won't be able to use his now gone restlessness against him. I guess I'll have to find something else to use against him.

"Yes, I did fight Inpei. What about it?"

"Did you win or did you lose? Was it a close fight or was it one-sided? Tell me the truth, Giichi. The moment I spot a lie in your words, this lady here is dead."

Lying isn't an option right now. Being vague will only anger him more, and he can kill Kiyo in a matter of seconds. Such a gamble is too dangerous.

"I won against him."

My best bet here is to just obediently tell him what he wants to hear. After I'll answer all of his questions, he will most likely leave. Of course, he probably wants to fight me, but until I'll finish telling him everything, it will already be a quite bad time to fight against me.

Obviously, Kiyo will still be here, which will give him the upper hand, but he wouldn't want to win against me with the help of such threats. Rather than winning by using dirty tricks, Spiegelung is the type of person will use dirty tricks to motivate his opponent to fight against him.

"I asked you another question, Giichi. Was the fight close or was it one-sided? Answer me, Giichi. Stalling won't do any good, since I am right near this lady. The moment that anyone else comes to help you, I will kill her."

That statement just made everything more complicated. Now, instead of just answering him obediently, I have to answer him correctly and quickly.

"It was a close fight. I almost died."

"Why?"

"Because Inpei used his full power, which is equal to my full power, and I didn't."

This isn't good. Not only is Yi Cheng supposed to come here at twilight, but there's also Sakurako who I forgot about. She might barge in any moment.

—I have to settle this quickly, before even Sakurako will get involved in this. This is my problem, and I should be the one to deal with this. I can't let Sakurako get involved in this just because of my inability to answer quickly.

"I see."

A few moments of awkward silence pass, and then I break the silence.

"Well, if you don't have any other question, then please leave, Spiegelung."

"Oh, but I do have quite a few more questions."

"Then go on and ask."

Right, don't waste my, or your time, Spiegelung. While you might not have any reason to end this quickly, I _do_ have one.

"Did Caduto and Inpei manage to get Richter and Unheil back?"

Hmm…? Is he worried about his friends? Or, wait, are they even friends? Darn it, I am in no position to ask him those questions, so I cannot know. Regardless, this—the success of the rescue mission of Caduto and Inpei— that is one bit of information I wanted to get to him as late as it possibly could.

…I guess this is as much as I can delay it from getting to him.

"Yes. They managed to get them back. Any other questions?"

"You said that your fight against Inpei was close, that he almost killed you. You said it is because he used his own full power, which is equal to your own, however, you still didn't use your own full power. With that in mind, I do not think it is probably for you to just somehow win against all chances. So did you get help from someone?"

Now he asks about another thing I didn't want him to know so early. My peerage. Since the ones who helped my, Chiron and Heracles, are my servants, I might have to tell him about my peerage.

"Yes. Chiron supported me with his arrows, from a certain distance. Aside from him, there was also Heracles, who helped me—fought against Inpei alongside me."

I managed to avoid mentioning they are my servants. …Hopefully Spiegelung does not know about it, at least not yet.

"Who are they to you?"

Darn it, now I have to mention it. And here I thought I might be able to avoid it. I guess I was being naïve with that thinking.

"They are my servants."

Go already, Spiegelung. Didn't I answer enough questions already? Why are you still asking so many questions?

"Is this lady here your servant, too?"

Tsk, you're paying too much attention.

"Yes, Kiyo is another servant of mine."

Then, Spiegelung seems to be thinking about something for a few moments, afterwards making up his mind and deciding to leave.

"Okay this is all I have to ask for now. See you later, Giichi~."

I personally hope to not see you ever again.

Then, as he gets rather near to the door, suddenly, Spiegelung seemingly remembers a question to ask me.

"—Ah, by the way, Giichi, I remembered something I wanted to ask you. Are you making any progress in your research about Master's identity?"

How did he know about it? Is it just a coincidence? Did he just reach the conclusion of me researching about his master by logical deduction? Or was his master the one who got to that conclusion using that method?

—Or did his master know about it all along? But how would he know about it, aside from logical deduction? Is it just an assumption? A belief? Or does he know that as a matter of fact?

Be it what it may be, that master is amazing. He isn't just monstrously strong, but also quite smart. Fighting him might be something I'd like to avoid, now that I think about it rationally.

"Quite well. Now go off already."

Then, Spiegelung goes off, only a few minutes before Sakurako barged into here. Had Spiegelung stayed for a few minutes more, or had Sakurako come a few minutes earlier, either way, it wouldn't have been good.

* * *

For the last couple of hours, I accompanied Sakurako. Well, at least, until Yi Cheng has had come to report to me about his findings. Once he had come, I went with him to the basement to hear what he had to say.

As for Sakurako and Kiyo… I've had them do something else for the time being. After all, I can't really let them know about this. Even if they are my servants, my Bishops, it doesn't matter—they still cannot know about this.

"—So, do you have anything new, Yi Cheng?"

"Yes, Giichi. I do have something new to report to you."

As expected from Yi Cheng! I knew he'd find something by now, even if only two days or so have passed since I asked him to find something.

"Well then, Yi Cheng… what is it that you have found?"

"It is going to surprise you, Giichi. You better prepare yourself for it."

Prepare myself for it…? What could it be? If Yi Cheng tells me to prepare myself, then it has to be something grand. I have no idea what it could be.

…Then, Yi Cheng makes a grin, only a mere moment before announcing to me his truly marvelous finding.

"I've managed to track down his base, Giichi. You know whose base I am taking about, right, Giichi?"

His base? He couldn't possibly mean…!

"Are you talking about Spiegelung's master's base?!"

"Indeed, Giichi. Since Professor requested me to follow you, I did exactly that, and I saw you were in a bind, however, anyone's interference would have had only made it worse, so I didn't do anything."

Hmm… indeed, he shouldn't have done anything at that time. The decision that he made is the correct one. Nevertheless, how did he find Spiegelung's master's base?

Then, Yi Cheng continues speaking.

"Instead, as you went home with Spiegelung, I saw Caduto. He was floating nearby, watching Spiegelung, probably under their master's order. And I followed him to their master's base."

So the situation was worse than I thought? I didn't even begin to think there was anyone else who could pose me a threat at that area.

Had I acted carelessly, it is plausible that Caduto could help Spiegelung to enact his threats, and perhaps kill me, even though the latter is something Spiegelung wants to do personally.

Nevertheless, even if Spiegelung wants to kill me personally, he would still have to listen to Caduto, so there's also that. I guess I have to be more careful from now on.

"Well done, Yi Cheng. Where is it?"

Then, Yi Cheng whispers to me something unbelievable.

(It's an unnamed place, Giichi. It's not listed on any sort of map, either. Not ones made by us, at least.)

An unnamed place. Moreover, it's also not even on any sort of map made by us. Could it be that only some maps made by other people do list that place? Like maps made by the Angels?

…Or did he mean something as far as only maps made by the inhabitants of ExE?

I would like it much better if it was just something that only us Devils don't list on our maps. However, I think that it is possible that no race have it listed. …Regardless, that still isn't any problem. I have Sakurako. Sakurako knows Gods from ExE, so there can't be any problem.

…I just hope it is listed at least on their maps.

Well, I guess I have to verify what he means by that, since it's kind of vague.

"What do you mean by that? Do you mean it's only listed on maps that, say, the Angels made? …Or do you mean to say that it is only listed on maps that were made by, say, something like the people of ExE?"

Yi Cheng's answer is not the one I wanted to hear.

"I guess it would be the latter. Well, I've tried to check quite a few maps, but none of them worked. So I guess it's safer to assume it is only on maps made by the residents of ExE."

Hmm… Yi Cheng said he tried quite a few maps, but which ones did he try? …Guess I'll have to ask.

"Which maps did you check, by the way?"

"Hmm… I checked the maps of the Hyoudou Clan, of the Devils, of the Maou, of the Angels, of the Fallen Angels, of the Norse myth, Egyptian myth, Chinese myth, Mount Olympus, Hindu, and a few more."

…If that's how it is, then it really isn't listed on any map made by us. It really must be listed only on maps that those from ExE made.

"Okay. Thank you for your hard work, Yi Cheng. I will try to get my hands on the maps made by the dwellers of ExE."

Still, why is it that it isn't on any map? Not to mention, unnamed? What's with that?

I then ask Yi Cheng for the reason.

"Yi Cheng, why is it that no map lists that place? Also, why is it unnamed?"

"I suppose Spiegelung's master deleted any evidence for his existence. Every evidence he could delete, that is. He wanted to hide himself, for whatever reason, I guess. It also strengthens your hypothesis of him being one of the Hyoudou Clan, by the way, Giichi."

I make a puzzled expression and ask him what he means by that.

"You see, if he wasn't a man of the Hyoudou Clan, he couldn't have possibly deleted it from our maps. Nevertheless, for him to be able to delete it from so many places, it isn't but an awe-inspiring feat."

I see. Indeed, it's just as Yi Cheng says.

"Indeed. By the way, Yi Cheng, is it still needed to get a map that lists that place? After all, you know where it is, so there's no need to actually get a map that lists that place, is there?"

Yi Cheng makes a strange expression and thinks for a moment, and afterwards answers my question.

"I guess there might not be any need to look for a map that lists the place just as is, but there are a few things that a map that _does_ list that place… might help us with."

"Such as?"

"It might have some sort of a shape that is related to either that master we are looking for, or perhaps something that the villagers of that place worship, possibly that master that we are looking for, himself. The same goes for the place's name."

Wait… what? What did Yi Cheng say just now?

Hearing such a weird statement mentioned by Yi Cheng, I question him if perhaps have had misheard what he said.

"Erm… Yi Cheng, what did you just say?"

"I just said that, hypothetically, the village might have some sort of a particular shape, which might be what Spiegelung's master worships, or perhaps the villagers themselves worship, possibly Spiegelung's master himself. It's the same with the name of that place; it could be a name of some deity, which might refer to Spiegelung's master."

…So I didn't hear incorrectly.

"So you're trying to tell me that there's a whole village there? Not just some base, but a whole village?"

"Yes."

"And they might be worshipping Spiegelung's master."

"Correct."

I can't believe what I hear. I've fought quite ridiculous enemies, however… this one is even worse. Not only is he monstrously strong, but he's also extremely smart. And now you're telling me a whole village is worshipping him?! That's way beyond ridiculous at this point!

"Are you sure about that, Yi Cheng?"

"About what?"

"Sorry, I shouldn't doubt you. I know you are not lying to me or misinforming me, even if by mistake. It's just that… this master we're looking for… I am shocked by what you told me. I still am."

"I was also surprised the first time I saw there was a whole village, Giichi."

So even Yi Cheng was surprised by that? That means it wasn't weird for me to panic like that. However, I'm not just shocked. There's something else that bothers me. A rule, so to say. One that I do not want to bend over just to defeat that master.

Then, Yi Cheng speaks.

"Well, you can take your time to get over that shock of yours."

I guess I could do that. …However, before that, I need to hear the rest of Yi Cheng's report. There might be things I'd better know right now.

"Well, I will take my time to get over my shock. Nevertheless, you first need to finish your report, Yi Cheng."

"Okay then, I will first finish my report. Well, really, there's only one more thing to tell you, so I can tell you that tomorrow, too."

"No, tell me that now. I am fine. By tomorrow, you will have more things to report, so it will be better if I can know what you want to report to me today. I can be useful, for all I know. Just tell it."

Yi Cheng sighs, and tells me the rest of his report.

"Well, my day was busy checking every map and tracking Spiegelung's master, so all I have else is just a reminder, so to say."

"A reminder? A reminder of what, Yi Cheng?"

"Remember what I told you two days ago?"

What? Two days ago? What did he tell me then? I can't remember… what was it? Oh, I think I start to remember what it was! It was… hmm… partial… no, mating… no, it was rationalization! No, no, no, it wasn't about that. What was it about?

"Ah… something about… erm… rational fame?"

"Rating Game, Giichi. There's a Rating Game, in a week from now. It's the next bump on your road."

"Oh, right, Rating Game! Am I spectating?"

"No, you're participating."

Oh… so I am participating. Huh. I already managed to forget all about it, didn't I? Who am I up against, though?

Then, Yi Cheng replies to me like a psychic, as though he has had read my mind. What he says is in accordance with my thoughts.

"You're against Kaiser. Kaiser Phenex."

"The one I defeated a year ago, huh…"

"Did you do that on purpose, Giichi?"

"What? No, what are you talking about?"

While it might seem like I remembered it all along, it just came back to me, this very moment. Yi Cheng looks at me with a weird look for a couple of moments, and sighs afterwards. He then speaks.

"Well, that's it for today. I asked Professor to tell me if anything is suspicious, but he didn't call me even once, so he probably couldn't have found anything on his own over at his side. Good thing I listened to him and followed you. That way, I managed to find that village, instead of staying at the same place and just not finding anything."

"Indeed, Chiron didn't stick his nose quite as usual, but he did manage to help me, he still managed to stick his nose in my business. Typical of him."

Then, I walk towards the stairs, to go to the bedroom, where Sakurako and Kiyo wait for me.

"—Ah, I almost forgot to tell you something, Giichi."

"Hmm…? What is it, Yi Cheng?"

"There's only a week until the Rating Game you will have against Kaiser Phenex. I just thought I should remind you to call Akihito Hyoudou."

"Akihito? Oh, no… that is something I'd like Chiron to stick his nose into, for once. Do you remember where he was last time?"

"Wasn't it the North Pole?"

A couple of moments of awkward silence pass, and then…

"Fuck it, I bet he's now over at the South Pole! I am _NOT_ going to go there just to get him, it's way too cold there! I don't know how he survived the cold in Verkhoyansk! I almost died when I came to get him from the North Pole. I don't want to get him from the South Pole now."

A few seconds pass on with dominant silence.

"You just have to do this, Giichi."

"…Wish me luck, Yi Cheng."

"Make sure to come back alive."

"While I am not going to any sort of war, well, not just yet, I still do feel like I need to make sure I come back alive. —I just hope he is somewhere warm."

"Won't happen, Giichi."

"Let a man dream, Yi Cheng."

We laugh it off a bit, and then I finally go back to my room.

"Anchin-sama, Sakurako and I have been waiting for you!"

"That's right, Gicchi! You've got two very cute girls waiting for you, and yet you're only talking with that Chinese man… for so long…"

"Sakucchi, it's Yi Cheng, and it's rude to call him "that Chinese man", you know. Also, I think it's about time you'd stop calling yourself cute so casually, and perhaps get a bit embarrassed about it, like a proper woman should. Just like Kiyo right now!"

Kiyo tries to cover her red and embarrassed face with the two of her hands, however, it is already too late. Both Sakurako and I have seen her face filled with embarrassment.

Then, I try to calm Kiyo down.

"You don't need to hide your face, Kiyo, it's cute."

"Anchin-sama said I'm cute~."

She's in her own world now, huh? Well, I tried, at least.

Disregarding that, I just go over to the bed, and sleep with Sakurako and Kiyo, casually, as though I experienced that quite a lot of times already.

…Well, I mean, I _did_ experience this kind of thing quite many times already, so it makes sense that I will act that way.

While there are a few things that happened before we all fell asleep, in the end, what matters the most, is that I slept alongside these two: Sakurako and Kiyo. Two cute girls, who I really love.

And, just like that, we all felt asleep.

If I have anything to note, it's just that Kiyo was really cute tonight. That's all.

* * *

Well, hello there. This is the last chapter of the Introduction Arc. Well, it's a bit too bad that I didn't manage to introduce everyone already, but the most important characters have already been introduced by now, for the most part.

There are a few things I'd like to mention before telling you my decision about the hiatus I've been talking about all this time.

First, there are some inspirations I'd like to mention.

The one that first comes to mind would probably be the Fate franchise. As you might have noticed, there are a few inspirations from that here. Chiron's character is greatly inspired from Chiron by Fate/Apocrypha. Aside from that, there's also Kiyohime, greatly inspired by Kiyohime from Fate/Grand Order.

There is also Yi Cheng, who, well, was not really inspired by anyone majorly. However, his character design is inspired by Mikazuki Munechika from Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu, but it's still only character design. So I am a bit unsure if I should include this in here.

There's one more inspiration that I'd like to mention, perhaps a somewhat unexpected one: Boku no Hero Academia. Also known as My Hero Academia.

The thing is, the first plan for the chapter was wildly different from this. At first, I actually planned on a Giichi VS Spiegelung fight to be the chapter. However, it didn't go too well, so I tried thinking of a different chapter to make.

By not going too well, I mean that the fight scene had a problem in it: the location. It was near Giichi's house, and for him to fight there, it would be a bit weird for some reasons. Basically, it had too many restrictions that were kind of discarded mid-way through the fight scene, and it made things a bit awkward for me.

So, after noticing something is off, I tried thinking about a different kind of chapter. At that time, episode twenty-five of Boku no Hero Academia, AKA My Hero Academia aired, and, well, I'd like to avoid spoilers, but basically, the villain meets the protagonist there and has a talk with him, while basically forcing him to speak with threatening his and many people's lives, so he had to listen to him and talk to him. I really liked that episode. After a while, I noticed it can be good for this chapter. I wanted to change it, but still keep the same characters in it.

So, after thinking, I thought of how the aforementioned episode twenty-five [of My Hero Academia] did a good job at giving us a look at the villain, and that's what I wanted to do here, to a certain degree. I wanted to use this opportunity to get away from fighting for a bit, especially so because of the next arc majorly focusing on fighting. Well, I wanted to write some more dialogue, since I sort of keep kind of avoiding it, because I am not as good at writing dialogue as I am at writing the fight scenes. Or at least, that's what I think. Anyway, I wanted Giichi and Spiegelung to have a conversation, so I did this chapter. I hope you liked it.

Second, I'd like to tell you about the second arc. It is a Rating Game arc, so it will have a lot of action. It will have its downs and ups, but overall, it will be interesting.

Third, I'd like to announce something. I think I didn't say this before, but I already started planning a spin-off, or, more accurately, a prequel, to this fanfiction, focusing on Yi Cheng. I am really fascinated to write this, but don't worry, I have just made a few characters for it. It still won't hinder the writing of this fanfic. I just thought I need to tell you about it.

Regardless, putting all of that aside, I'd like to get to the decision about the hiatus.

Now then, as you probably already know, if you have been reading the past few chapters... I am going to go on a hiatus. It was an undefined period until now, but I decided to make it two years, after giving it a lot of thought.

I have my own reasons for it.

Basically, in two years, I'll likely finish writing most of this fanfic, hopefully. Well, since I'll be busy, and quite reluctant because of this hiatus, I will maybe even end up writing only half of it in two years. But that's fine. There's another important reason for it to be two years. But before that, I'd like to mention that I will still write during that time; I will just write nowhere near as fast, due to many things going on, which makes things busy for me, so I don't have a lot of time for writing, which consequently means I'll be unable to publish monthly.

...Okay then, now that we've got that out of the way, let's get to the reasons.

In two years, even if I will go slowly, I will definitely finish the second arc. I wasn't too sure if I can do it in six months, so I didn't want to go for it and just say after it, that I will go on another hiatus, so I decided to take the longest period I could afford to be on a hiatus: two years. The thing is, if I will do what I need to, within those two years, I will finish the hiatus and start publishing this fanfic again, early.

While I would like to take all of those two years to finish most, if not all of this fanfic, hopefully, if I will see things go too slowly for it buy I already finished what I needed to, then I will end it early and publish again. With those reasons, I personally found two years to be ideal. Regardless, if you have anything to say, please do say. I'd like to hear your opinions on this matter.

Well then, see you again, in two years or less! I will likely be rather inactive, but I would still like to read your reviews! I still want to hear your opinions. Anyway, I talked a bit too much, maybe, this time around, so I will stop here.


End file.
